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OUR MARTYRED PRESIDENT. 

AS A MAN, THE NOBLEST AND PUREST OF HIS TIMES. 

AS A CITIZEN, THE GRANDEST OF HIS NATION. 

AS A PRESIDENT, THE IDOL OF FIFTY MILLIONS OF PEOPLE. 



THE LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 



OF 



Gen. JAMES A. GARFIELD, 

TWENTIETH PKE.SIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

EMBRACINO 

^ FULL ACCOUNT OF HIS EARLY LIFE; HIS STRUGGLES WITH POVEIIT-Y 

AND EFFORTS TO OBTAIN AN EDUCATION; HIS BRILLIANT SEH- 

VICES AS A SOLDIER AND STATESMAN; HIS ELECTION 

TO THE PRESIDENCY; HIS ABLE AND PATRIOTIC 

ADMINISTRATION; HIS MANFUL BATTLE 

"WITH RINGS AND CORRUPTION 

IN HIGH PLACES. 

TOG-ETHER "W^ITII THE 

HISTORY OF HIS ASSASSINATION, 

GIVING ALL THE INCIDENTS OF HIS LONG AND PAINFUL ILLNESS, 
THE SURGICAL TREATMENT, THE CONSULTATIONS OF THE 
EMINENT PHYSICIANS, DAILY SCENES AT THE SUF- 
FERER'S BEDSIDE, LAST HOURS AND DEATH, 
THE FUNERAL CORTEGE, BURIAL, Etc. 

By JAMES D. McCABE, 

ilDTHOB OF "The Pictorial History op the World," " Pathways op the Holy Land," 
"Thk Centennial History op the United States," etc., etc. 



Imbellislied with a Fine Steel Poiirait and Numerous Ingraviugs on Wooi 



NATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY: 

PHILADELPHIA, PA.; CHICAGO, ILLS.; ST. LOUIS, MO.; 

ATLANTA, GA 



Aw 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1880, by 

J. R. JONES, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D.O, 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1881, by 
J. K. JONES, 
la the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. ( 



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JUN I »*^ 



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K PREFACE. 

4^ 



IT is the pride and boast of America that this is a 
country of self-made men. However humble may 
be the position of a man, it is within his power, in this 
land of equality and Republican Institutions, to attain 
the highest honors within the gift of his fellow-citizens. 
Our history is full of the names of men who, without 
friends or fortune to aid thenj, have risen by the force 
of their own abilities to the proudest position in the 
Republic — Washington, Jefferson, Marshall, Clay, Lin- 
^coln and their glorious compeers, were all self-made 
men, and carved out their great successes by their own 
unaided efforts. Their example shines out brightly to 
encourage and cheer others who are struggling onward 
in the road by which they climbed to greatness. 

No career in all our history furnishes a more brilliant 
example of this than that of General James A. Garfield. 
Starting as a poor farmer boy, without money, position, 
or influence, and compelled to struggle against poverty, 
he has raised himself to the highest pinnacle of fame. 
The poor boy that drove the mule team of a canal 
boat was elected by his countrymen to the exalted 
position of President of the United States. His das- 
tardly assassination aroused an outpouring of grief, 
sympathy and love which showed how strong was his 
hold upon the affections of the nation. (3) 



i PREFACE. 

It is but natural that his countrymen should desire 
to know the means by which this great success was 
accomplished. To meet this demand the author has 
prepared this volume, which relates the life of this 
truly great man. The work is more interesting than 
a novel, for it is true. It is the story of unconquera' 
ble determination and sublime self-reliance, of lofty 
purpose and inflexible resolve, of incorruptible integ- 
rity and moral courage of the highest type, of noble 
effort and magnificent achievement, of a prolonged 
struggle, crowned by the most brilliant triumphs. 

The history of the dastardly attempt upon the life 
of President Garfield is graphically related, and the 
work contains a carefully written account of the long 
and terrible suffering of the distinguished patient, 
with descriptions of the daily scenes around his bed- 
side. The skilful medical and surgical treatment pur- 
sued by the physicians in charge of the case, the heroic 
firmness with which the suffering President bore him- 
self in the midst of his agony, the firm and devoted 
conduct of Mrs. Garfield, " the plucky little lady of 
the White House," the outpouring of s^-mpathy and 
affection, not only from our own people, but from the 
nations and sovereigns of the Old World, the terrible 
struggle between life and death, the final conquest by 
the Great Enemy, the national outburst of grief, the 
mournful journey to the grave in his native State, the 
scenes along the route and at the funeral, are all accu- 
rately related, and constitute one of the most thrilling 
and fascinating narratives ever written. Nothing in ro- 
mance exceeds in startling tragedy or wonderful pathos 
this sad episode in our national history. 



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JAMES AND HENRY A. GARFIELD, 
SONS OF THE PRESIDENT. 



PREFACE. 5 

The work abounds in copious extracts from the 
speeches and writings of General Garfield, for it is only 
by an intimate acquaintance with his views as set forth 
in these utterances that he can be fairly judged, or in- 
telligently appreciated. His record is presented here 
clearly and without partiality, that all men may see 
that his life was free from stain, his services hon- 
orable and distinguished, and that his claims to the 
love and confidence of the American people rest upon 
a solid foundation of genuine merit and faithful service 
honorably performed, even at the price of martyfdom. 

No more truly did the great Napoleon rise from ob- 
scurity to the pinnacle of fame by herculean energy 
and an indomitable will that carried him over the 
snow-capped mountains in the piercing cold of mid- 
winter, than did James A. Garfield, by the same in- 
nate, progressive energy, rise from obscurity to the 
highest position attainable in this the foremost nation 
of the world. His life, while wrapped like a cloak in 
romance, had its shadows, its sacrifices, and its mag- 
nificent successes. It is an inspiring, captivating story, 
and points such a moral as only great deeds can. 
The young men of the nation should read it, for it may 
be to them a source of inspiration. The old men of 
the nation should read it, for it will recall to them 
holy memories of the great deeds and the great mea 
of our past. 

Philadelphia, September 30th, 1881. 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER I. 

CHILDHOOD AND EARLY YEARS. 

Jlrth and Parentage— Rev. Hosea Ballou— Death of James Garfield's Fathea- 

A Western Widow — Jules Garfield resolves to keep the Family to. 

gether— Boyhood of James Garfield — Brought up to Hard Work— An 
Industrious Boy — James determines to obtain an Education — A Poor 
Boy's Struggles — The Village School— James makes an excellent lis- 
tener — Becomes a Boatman on the Ohio Canal — Is Promoted— Wishes 
to be a Sailor — A Fortunate Illness — James Garfield makes the Ac- 
quaintance of Samuel D. Bates— Resolves to go to School— At the 
Academy — A Struggle for an Education — Garfield at the Carpenter's 
Bench — Becomes a School Teacher — Leaves the Academy — Finds a 
Friend who helps him to enter College— His Reasons for Selecting 
Williams College — His Career there — Graduates with distinction. 

CHAPTER II. 

PRESIDENT OF A COLLEGE AND STATE SENATOR. 

it. Garfield joins the Church of the Disciples— Statement of the Religious 
Belief of this Church — Reckless Attacks of Political Enemies upon Mr, 
Garfield's Religious Views— The true state of the Case — Mr. Garfield 
becomes a Professor of Hiram Eclectic Institute — Is made President of 
the College — His life in this capacity— Preaches the Gospel — Growing 
Popularity — Marriage of Mr. Garfield — His Wife — Buys a House — Mr. 
Garfield enters Political Life — Joins the Free Soil Party — Is Elected to 
the State Senate — Services in the Senate — The Secession Troubles — Mr- 
Garfield becomes a Prominent Union Leader — His Position in the Senate 
— A Rising Man — Supports the War Preparations of Ohio — Denounces 
Secession — Ohio's Situation at the Commencement of the Rebellion — 
How the State was Armed and Prepared for the War — Growth of the 
State Militia— Outbreak of the War— Rapid offers of Volunteers- 
Enthusiasm of the People — Services of Mr. Garfield to the State — Sup- 
ports Governor Dennison's War Measures — Is sent to Illinois to Buy 
Arms — Determines to take part in the War. 

C5) 



CHAPTER III. 

THE COLLEGE PRESIDENT BECOMES A BRIGADIER-GENERAL. 

Mr. Garfield organizes a Military Company among his Students— Is made 
Lieutenant-Colonel — Is Promoted to be Colonel of the Forty-second 
Ohio Infantry — Organization and History of the Regiment— A Noble 
Record — The Forty-second ordered to the field— Joins General Buell'a 
Araiy in Ktntucky — (iarfield is placed in Command of a Brigade — State 
of affairs in the West — Garfield's first Campaign— An Important Trust 
— The March up the Sandy Valley— The First Blow struck — Rout of 
the Rebel Cavalry — Colonel Garfield wins a handsome Victory over 
Humphrey Marshall at Middle Creek- Flight of Marshall's Forces — 
Garfield sets the Ball of Victory in motion — A true estimate of the 
Victory of Middle Creek— A New Dodge — Out of Supplies— The Flood 
in the Big Sandy — Garfield forces a Steamboat to ascend the River — 
Garfield at the Wheel — A Thrilling Incident — Garfield wins another 
Victory — Drives the Rebels from Pound Gap — Is ordered to Louisville 
— Is congratulated by General Buell in General Orders — Value of his 
Operations. 



CHAPTER IV. 

FROM SHILOH TO CIIICKAMAUGA. 

Ofneral Garfield given a Brigade in the Army of the Cumberland — Joins 
Buell on the march — Battle of Pittsburgh Landing — General Garfield's 
share in this fight — Takes part in the Pursuit — The Siege of Corinth — 
Garfield's Brigade one of the first to enter the town — Is ordered to re- 
pair the Memphis and Charleston Railroad— Successful performance of 
this duty— Garfield at Huntsville — Detailed for Court-martial duty — 
A severe illness — Ordered to Cumberland Gap — Placed on the Fitz John 
Porter Court martial — Ordered to South Carolina — Battle of Stone 
Kiver — Garfield is appointed Chief of Staff to General Rosecrans— His 
duties and services in this position — General Rosecrans' quarrels with 
■ the War Department — Garfield endeavors to harmonize these difficulties 
— Rosecrans' delay at Murfreesboro — Reasons for it — Garfield's views 
respecting it — A stinging letter from. Rosecrans to Halleck — Garfield's 
advice respecting the Reorganization of the Army — It is disregarded — 
He urges Rosecrans to advance — A Model Military Report — The Army 
moves off"— The Tullahoma Campaign — A brilliant success — It was 



CONTENTS. / 

Ttally due to Garfield — Advance upon Chattanooga, — Retreat of Brag^'— 
Battle of Chickamauga — Garfield'a share in it — He is promoted to bb 
Major-Qeneral of Volunteers for hia condnct at Chickamauga, 

CHAPTER V. 

GENERAL GARFIELD ENTERS CONGRESS. 

General Garfield Elected to Congress from the Western Reserve District- 
Desires to Remain in the Army— His Reasons for Resigning his Cam- 
mission and Entering Congress— Character of his District— Reasons for 
his Election— Decides to Leave the Army— Enters Congress— Takes a 
Commanding Position in the House-Appointed to the Military Com- 
juittee- Estimate of him as one of the Leaders of the Republican Party 
—His Habits of Industry— His Mode of Rest— Mr. Long, of Ohio, pro- 
poses to Recognize the Southern Confederacy— A Brilliant Invective— 
An Impressive Scene in the House— Delight of the Republicans over 
Garfield's Reply— It Ensures his Success in the House— Mr. Garfield in 
Demand as a Speaker— The Inconvenience of being Too Ready an Orator 
—General Garfield's Account of Congress— Its History— Its Great Ser- 
vfces— Its Intim.ate Connection with the People— How it has become tU« 
National Mouthpiece and Defender— Congress and the Constitution — 
Congress and the President— Congress and the People— A Statesman's 
Views. 

CHAPTER VI. 



GENERAL GARFIELD S CONGRESSIONAL CAREER. 

The Wade-Davis Manifesto — General Garfield before the Conventioi^— 
Moral Courage wins the Day — Triumphant Nomination and Election 
of General Garfield — Is appointed a Member of the Committee of Ways 
and Means — Speech on the Constitutional Amendment — A Grand Da- 
uauciation of Slavery — Speech on the Reconstruction of the Southern 
Kiates— Speech on Confiscation — A Reminiscence of the War — Gradual 
Rise of the Negro— How Garfield refused to surrender a Fugitive Slav© 
— Speech on Slate Sovereignty — General Garfield as a Temperance 
Worker— How he phut up a Beer Brewery — A Good Speculation — Gen- 
eral Garfield's Tariff Record— Views of the Iron and Steel Bulletin- 
General Garfield's Course Satisfactory— To the Protectionists— His Real 



g CONTENTS. 

Position on this Question— Re-election of General Garfield to Congress 
—Is made Ckairman of the Military Committee— Successive re-elections 
to Congress— Is made Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations- 
Debate on the Civil Appropriation Bill of 1872-General Garfield's mode 
of conducting Public Business— The Salary Grab— General Garfield's 
Course respecting it— Letter to a Friend— Garfield successfully Vindi- 
dicates his Course— A Silly Rumor Refuted — General Garfield urges 
the Repeal of the Salary Bill. 

CHAPTER VII. 

GENERAL GARFIELD LEADS THE REPUBLICAN OPPOSITION IS 

ELECTED TO THE SENATE. 

Efforts to defeat General Garfield for Congress— His triumphant Re-election 
— The Democrats have a Majority in the House— Garfield loses his Chair- 
manship—One of the Republican Leaders — A sharp Arraignment of the 
Democratic Party — The Democratic Graveyard— Ohio goes Republican — 
General Garfield nominated for United States Senator— Is the Republi- 
can Candidate for Speaker of the House— A Member of two important 
Committees — Becomes the Republican Leader in the House — Garfield 
pours a Broadside into the Democratic Ranks— A Withering Denunciation 
of Democratic Policy— Reply to Mr. Tucker, of Virginia— Garfield breaks 
the Democratic Line — Delight of the Republicans in the House— Com- 
ments of the New York Herald — Appeal in behalf of the Loyal Men of 
the South— Speech on the Judicial Expenses Bill— Speech at Madison 
Wisconsin — Speech at the Andersonville Reunion — Plain Talking on a 
Sad Subject— General Garfield is Elected to the United States Senate- ' 
His Arrival at Columbus— Reception at the Capital— His Remarks— A4 
dress of President Hinsdale on Garfield's Election— Speech of General 
Garfield on Democratic Nullification.. 

CHAPTER YIIL 



GENERAL GARFIELD S FINANCIAL RECORD. 

General Garfield's Appointment to the Committee on Banking and Currency 
— His Efforts in Congress in behalf of Honest Money— A Formal State- 
ment of his Vievrs on the Money Question — The Currency Doctrine of 
_i862 — Definition of Money — Money as an Instrument of Exchange— = 



CONTENTS. 



9 



Coin as an Instrument of Universal Credit— Statutes Cannot Repeal the 
Laws of Value — Paper Money as an Instrument of Credit — Necessity of 
Resumption— A Powerful Argument— General Garfield's Speech on the 
Weaver Resolutions. 



CHAPTER IX. 

ihe credit mobilier and de golyer charges general 

Garfield's triumphant vindication. 

History of the Credit Mobilier Scheme — The Pacific Railway — Government 
Aid extended to H. Oakea Ames' Connection with the Road — Congress 
Investigates the Credit Mobilier — General Garfield's sworn Testimony 
before the Committee — He denies all Improper Connection with the 
Scheme — Publishes a Review of the Case — An Exhaustive Discussioa 
of the Case — Testimony in the Matter — General Garfield's Response to 
the Charges of 1873 — Mr. Ames' Testimony Analyzed — Mr. Ames" 
Memoranda — The Check on the Sergeant-at-Arms — General Garfield's In- 
terviews with Mr. Ames during the Investigation — Conclusions — Trium- 
phant Vindication of General Garfield — All the Charges against him — 
Letter of Judge Poland — General Garfield Unanimously Acquitted of 
Wrong-doing — The De Golyer Pavement Company — Charges against 
General Garfield — His Triumphant Vindication of hia Course — The 
Truth established at last. 

CHAPTER X. 

IHE CHICAGO CONVENTION. GENERAL GARFIELD NOMINATED 

FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The Chicago Convention — Description of the Hall — General Garfield a Del- 
egate from Ohio — Cordial Reception by the Convention — Opening of 
the Proceedings— Tlie First Day's Work — Events of the Second Day— 
The Struggle between Grant and Blaine — Parliamentary Skirmishing — 
Proceedings of the Third Day — Report of the Committee on Credentials 
—The Evening Session — The Fight over Illinois — The Fourth Day's 
Session — The Grant Lmes show Signs of Weakness — Garfield's Mas- 
terly Management of the Ohio Delegation — Nomination of Candidates 
—Blaine and Grant Presented — General Garfield Nominates John Sber- 



10 CONTENTS. 

man — A Noble Speech — The Fifth Day's Session — Balloting for the 
Presidential Candidates — A Stubborn Fight — A Detailed Statement of 
the Ballots — The Sixth and Last Day — Wisconsin Votes for Garfield — 
The General endeavors to Stop the Movement in his Favor — He is un- 
successful—The Break to Garfield— The Thirty-sixth Ballot— Garfield 
Nominated for the Presidency — Exciting Scenes in the Convention — 
The Nomination Made Unanimous — Nomination of Vice-President — 
How Garfield's Nomination was brought about — Platform of the Re- 
publican Party for 1880. 

CHAPTER XI. 

GENERAL GARFIELD SINCE THE CHICAGO CONVENTION. 

The Nomination unsought by General Garfield — Congratulatory Telegrams 
— How the News was received in Congress — Scene in tlie House — Gen- 
eral Garfield notified of his Nomination — His Reply — Returns Home — 
Reception at Cleveland — General Garfield presides at the Reunion of 
Hiram College — His Speecli on that Occasion — A Glance at the PiU^t — 
Reception at Mentor — Visit to Painesville— General Garfield addresses 
his Neighbors — Sunday at Home— General Garfield returns to Wash- 
ington City — His Journey — A Serenade at Washington — Speech of Gen- 
eral Garfield — Adjournment of Congress — Fourth of July Speech at 
Painesville — General Garfield's Letter accepting the Nomination for the 
Presidency — Personal Characteristics — General Garfield's Washington 
Home — The Farm at Mentor — The Garfield Family. 

CHAPTER XII. 

ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 

The Presidential Election — Garfield Elected — Life at Mentor after the Elec- 
tion — Departure for Washington — The Inauguration — Brilliant Scenes — 
The new Cabinet — Divisions in the Republican Party — Nomination of 
Judue Robertson — Resignation of the New York Senator^ — Tiie Presi- 
dent endorsed by the Senate and people — Promise of a noble Adminis- 
tration — The Star Route Scandal — Illness of Mrs. Garfield — Tlie proposed 
New England Tour — The President Shot — Scenes at the Depot — Removal 
to tiie White House — Heroic Courage of tlie President — A Brave Fight — 
Arriv:il of Mrs. Garfield — Anxiety of the people — Statements of Eye- 
witnesses — Daily progress of the President's Case — Hope at last — The 
Assassin — His Crime and its Motive — No Conspiracy — Details of the 
Arrest — Guiteau's Father and Brother denounce him. 




ONE OF THK Hl'l.LETS. 




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CHILDHOOD AND EARLY TEARS. 19 

support of the family devolved entirely upon Mrs. Gar- 
field, but fortunately for her boys she was a woman of 
rare energy and excellent business qualities. The friends 
of Genei-al Garfield are unanimous in declaring that it is 
from his mother that he inherits his capacity for work, 
and the patience and perseverance he displays in the ac- 
complishment of his ends. Mrs. Garfield was determined 
from the moment of her husband's death that the family 
should not be separated, but should be kept together 
as when the father was living. To accomplish this re- 
quired a hard struggle, but she was a woman of strong 
failli and courage, and with the aid of her three elder 
boj's managed to gain a frugal support from the little 
farm left to her by her husband. Young as he was, 
James was obliged to do what he could in the work of 
the farm, and in this way learned the habits of indus- 
try which have distinguished his manhood, and laid the 
foundation of his strong and vigorous constitution. He 
worked with a will, for he liked it, and even as a child 
detested idleness. When but a little fellow, it was said 
of him by the neighbors, that he had " not a lazy hair in 
his head." The farm was poor, and it required constant 
and hard work from all the family to get a living out 
0.^ it. 

From his earliest years, James was anxious to obtain 
a good education ; but the prospect before him was dis- 
couraging. He was a poor boy, and without friends who 
could assist him. Whatever he accomplished in life must 
be by his own exertions. This conviction became im- 
planted in his mind at a very early day, and gave to him 
an ournefctuess of character and resoluteness of purpose 



20 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

remarkable in one so young. During the summer montlis 
he worked on the little farm, and in the winter he worked 
at the carpenter's bench, his friends thinking it best that 
a poor boy with his way to make in the world, should be 
master of some good useful trade. When he had suf- 
ficiently mastered the rudiments of this trade, the neigh- 
bors employed him in such simple jobs as he was capable 
of performing, and in this way he was able to earn a 
little money. 

All this while he could neither read nor write, yet 
he was by no means an ignorant boy. There was in 
Orange a so-called village school, where the villagers 
met in the evening during the long winters, to read and 
discuss such books as they possessed and the newspa[)ers 
that came to them by the mail. Young Garfield was a 
constant attendant and an eager listener, and in this ca- 
pacity picked up considerable useful information. No one 
would have dreamed that the illiterate boy who drank 
in so eagerly the prosy sentences of the county paper, 
would one day be the brilliant and accomplished leader of 
a great party, and a candidate for the highest honors in 
tlie gift of his countrymen. What a lesson of hope and 
encouragement does such a life hold out to the young 
and struggling men of America. The same means by 
which this man rose to fame, are open to every one who 
will use them as faithfully and honorably as he did. 

This constant attendance upon the village school but 
increased the desire of young Garfield to obtain an>;du- 
eation. But to obtain this money was indispensable, and 
the boy had none. Naturally he began to look about 
him for some ^vocation which would enable him to earn 












GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN". 



CHILDHOOD AND EARLY YEARS. 21 

mone3% and so obtain the knowledge he craved. The 
Ohio Canal passed within a short distance of the Garfield 
farm, and the lad made many acquaintances among the 
boatmen. From these he learned that the wages paid 
the canil mea amounted to more than he could earn by 
his labor on the farm or by carpentering, and that they 
were paid promptly and in cash. He therefore deter- 
mined to become a boatman, and when but seventeen 
years old succeeded in obtaining employment as driver of 
one of the boats. Though his position was humble in the 
extreme, he displayed such fidelity and diligence in the 
discharge of his duties that he attracted the attention of 
his !5uperiors, who promoted him to the post of steersman, 
a position which brought him an increase of wages. He 
held this position for about eighteen months, working 
hard, and laying by as much as he could of his small, 
earnings. In the fall of 184H, being dissatisfied with 
canal life, he resolved to take a step forward and ship as 
a sailor on one of the vessels plying on Lake Erie. Be- 
fore he could carry out this resolution, however, he was 
seized with a severe attack of ague and fever, which com- 
pelled him to leave the canal and return to his mother's 
house an invalid. This sickness proved the turning-point 
ill his life, and as a result of it, James A. Garfield, in- 
stead of burying himself in the forecastle of a ship, be- 
came one of the leading statesmen of the American 
Republic. 

Young Garfield's illness lasted three months, and 
during this time he became acquainted with Samuel D. 
Bates, a young man engaged in teaching the district 
echool that winter. Bates had recently been a pupil at 



22 JAiMES A. GARFIELD. 

the " Geauga Seminary," in an adjoining county, and his 
conversation aroused in the invalid all the old desire to 
obtain an education, which had almost died out under the 
influence of his canal-boat associates. The plan of be- 
coming a sailor was abandoned, and the young man re- 
solved to give all his energies now to the acquirement of 
knowledge. He had managed with the aid of some friends 
to learn to read, and could do simple examples in arith- 
metic, but this was the sole basis upon which he proposed 
to build up the structure of knowledge he meant to rear. 
It was enough, however, for one so ambitious and deter- 
mined. His mother entered fully into his plans and 
hopes, and moreover was able to aid him with a little 
money which she had saved by the most pinching econ- 
omy. With this small capital he started, in March, 1849, 
for the " Geauga Academy," an obscure institution located 
at Chester, a small country village not far from Orange. 
He wus accompanied by a cousin and another young man 
from his village. The young men were too poor to p;iy 
one dollar and fifty cents a week for board, in addition 
to the cost of their tuition, and so they took with tliein 
frying-pans, dishes, and other cooking utensils. Upon 
reaching Cfiester they rented a room in an old unpuinted 
frame building, not far from the academy, and during 
their stay there " kept house" for themselves. From 
this day James A. Garfield earned his own living, and to 
his credit be it said never possessed a dollar that he had 
not gained by honest and faithful toil. He applied him- 
self with ardor to his studies, for his heart was in his 
work, and failure had become among the impossibilities 
with him. His industry enabled him to distance his com- 



CHIL1»H(X)D AXD EARLY YEAKS. 23 

petitors, nnd he soon took rank as the inosit promising 
pupil in the academy. During all this wliile he eanietl 
his own living. He found work with the carpenters oJ 
Chester, and his morninirs and evenings and Saturdays 
were spent in working in the shop. lie earned fair 
•.vMues, and was thus enabled to pay his way as he went. 
As may be imagined, he had few leisure moments; but 
work with him was a pleasure, and he had the happiness 
and encouragement of feeling that ho was surely prepar- 
ing himself for a man's part in the great struggle of life. 
When the summer vacation came, he devoted himself 
steadily to work, and by laying aside his earnings pro- 
vided a fund for the expenses of the Axil and spring terms 
at ^school. Durinor the winter he taufjht a district school, 
and so added to his income. Thus he kept on for several 
Years, teaching in the winter, workins? at the bench in 
the summer, and attending the academy during the fall 
and spring terms. He practised the most rigid economy, 
laying aside all he could of his earnings, for the purpose 
of paying for a collegiate course, upon which he was now 
resolved to enter. He had the fortune to enjoy excellent 
health during this time. He was a tall, muscular, fair- 
h.'iired countr}^ lad in those days, looking a good deal like 
a German in spite of his pure Yankee blood. Healthy in 
mind and body, he was also genial in temper and ever 
;e;idy to oblige a friend. He was a good wrestler an 1 
b?dl player as well as a good student, and was a great 
favorite with his classmates and teachers. 

In 1854, Mr. Garfield determined to leave the acad- 
emy, as he felt that he had exhausted its capacity for 
imparting knowledge. He was now twenty-tliree years 



24 



.T.A^rrS A. GAT^ FIELD. 



old, nrifl it was import-mt that he should lose no time 
in entering collecre. if he meant to do so at all. During 
the five yenrs h«- h;id passed at the academy and at 
work, he had Inid hy a considerahle sum of money for the 
expenses of his colle-jiate course, and he was confident 
that his hard studies had fitted him to enter the junior 
class at college. But even this would require a two 
ye;irs' course at college, and his savings were sevei-al 
hundred dollars short of the amount necessary to defray 
his expenses. IFow was he to raise the balance? For 
n while this troubled him greatly; but friends now came 
to his assistance, and he began to reap in part the rcAvai-d 
of* the good life he had led. His course at the academy 
had established for him a reputation for honesty and per- 
sistency of purpose, which now stood him in good stead. 
A gentleman who had watched his career with great in- 
terest, agreed to advance him the necessary money, taking 
.•IS security a life-insurance policy, which Mr. Garfield, 
being in excellent health, had no difnculty in securing. 
This loan placed him in possession of sufKcient funds to 
sarry out his plan. The next step was to determine 
upon a colleire. After canvassing the merits of various 
institutions, Mr. Garfield chose Williams College, at Wil- 
liainstown, Mass., as the one most suited to his needs. 
Ih'fore leaving home, he placed his policy of life insur 
ance in the hands of his kind friend, as security for 
tlie loan. *' If I live," he said, " 1 will pay you. ' if 1 
die, you will safter no loss." The debt was paid soon 
ifter his gradwation, and the creditor has ever since been 
one r,f xMr. Gaifield's closest and most devoted friends, 
roai)ing a rich reward in the brilliant career of the vouno 

» o 




o 





CHTLDHOOD AND EAELT YEARS. 



25 



mnn Tie helper! to reach fame and honors. Mr. Garfield 
had ori^ntially intended to attend Bethany College, the 
institution sustained by the church of which he was a 
member, and presided over by Alexander Campbell, the 
man above ail others whom he had been taught to admire 
and revere. But as study and experience had enlarged 
his vision, he had come to see that there were better 
institutions outside the limits of his peculiar sect. A 
familiar letter of his, written about that time, from which 
a fortunate accident enables us to quote, shall tell us 
how he reasoned and acted. 

"There are three reasons why I have decided not 
to go to Bethany: 1st. The coarse of study is not so 
extensive or thorough as in the Eastern colleges. 2d. 
Bethany leans too heavily toward slavery. 3d. I am 
the son of Disciple parents, am one myself, and have had 
but little acquaintance with people of other views ; and, 
having always lived in the West, I think it will make me 
more liberal both in my religious and general views and 
sentiments, to go into a new circle where I shall be under 
new influences. These considerations led me to conclude 
to a-o to some New England college. I therefore wrote 
to the Presidents of Brown University, Yale, and Wil- 
liams, setting forth the amount of study I had done, and 
a.sking how long it would take me to finish their course. 

" Their answers are now before me. All tell me I 
can graduate in two years. They are all brief, business 
notes, but President Hopkins concludes with this sen- 
tence : ' If you come here, we shall be glad to do what 
we can lor you.' Other things being so nearly equal, 
thi^ sentence, which seems to be a kind of friendly grasp 



26 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

of the linnd, has settled the question for me. I shall 
start for WilliMms next week." 

Some points in this letter of a young man about tc 
start away from home to college will strike the reader as 
remarkable. Nothing could show more mature judgment 
jibout the matter in hand than the wise anxiety to get 
out from the Disciples' influence, and see something or 
other men and other opinions. It was notable tliat one 
trained to look upon Alexander Campbell as the master 
intellect of the churches of the day, should revolt against 
studvinu' in his college because it leaned too strondy to 
slavery. And in the final turning of the decision upon 
the little friendly commonplace that closed one of the 
letters, we catch a glimpse of the warm sympathetic 
nature of the man, which much and w^ide experience of 
the world in after years has never hardened. 

Repairing to Williams College, in the fall of 1854, 
Mr. Garfield was admitted to the junior class, his private 
studies having enabled him to master the freshman and 
sophomore courses. His life at Williams opened a new 
experience to him. He was now thrown into the society 
of polished young students, who looked somewhat con- 
temptuously on the rough Western carpenter and farmer 
who had dropped among them. His experience from a 
social point of view was far from pleasant, and he was 
t!ie subject of many rude remarks and much ruder treat- 
ment. He bore all this with patience, though his high 
spirit inwardly chafed at it. He had come to colbge for 
a fixed purpoFi>, and that purpose he kept steadily in 
view, allowing nothing to swerve him from it. Disregard- 
ing the slights he constantly received, he applied himself 



CHILDHOOD AND EAF.LY YEARS. 27 

with en^srgy to his studies, and made a reputation that 
not even those who affected to look down upon him could 
aftbrd to despise. In 1856, two yenrs after his admis- 
sion, he was graduated, bearing ofT the honors of his class 
in metaphysics, a distinction which is regarded as nmong 
the highest within the gift of the institution to its gradu 
ating members. This;, high honor was an ample reward to 
him for Jill the slights he had endured while struggling 
for it IIow his classmates would have smiled had they 
been told that the m.m they atfected to despise w\as one 
day to become a leader whom they would gladly and en- 
thusiastically follow in one of the greatest contests that 
ever marked the history of the country I 



CHAPTER II. 

PRESIDENT OF A COLLEGE AND STATE SENATOR. 

IVfr. Garfielfl joins tho Church of tlie Disciples — Statement of the Religions 
Belief of this Church — Reckless Attacks of Poliiical Enemies upon Mr. 
Garfield's Religious Views — The true state of the Case — Mr. Garfield 
becomes a Professor of Hiram Eclectic Institute — Is made President of 
tlie College — Ilis life in this capacity — Preaches the Gospel — Growing 
Popularity — Marriage of Mr. Garfield — His Wife — Buys a House — Mr. 
Garfield enters Political Life — Joins the Free-Soil Party — Is Electeil to 
the State Senate — Services in the Senate — The Secession Troubles — Mr. 
Garfield becomes a Prominent Union Leader — His Position in the Senate 
— A liising Man — Supports the War Preparations of Ohio — Denounces 
Secession — Ohio's Situation at the Commencement of the Rebellion — 
How the State was Armed and Prepared for the War — Growth of the 
State Militia — Outbreak of the War — Rapid offers of Volunteers — 
Enthusiasm of the People — Services of Mr. Garfield to the State — Sup- 
ports Governor Dennison's War Measures — Is sent to Illinois to Buy 
Arms — Determines to take part in the War. 

While attending the Geauga Academy, Mr. Garfield 
made a profession of religion, and joined the Disciples' 
Churrh, a new sect which had spread with great rapiilitv 
in Ohio, nnder the influence of the eloquent pre.-iching of 
its founder, Alexander Campbell. The religious belief 
of the Disciples is thus stated by the Rev. Irving A. 
Searles, pastor of the South Side Christian Church, Chi- 
:?ago: — 

1. We call ourselves Christians or Disciples. The 
term " Cjimpbellit<j " is a nickname that others have ap- 




Mils. Dll. SUSAN EDSON— ONE OF THE PRESI- 
DEN'-^''S NURSES. 



PRESIDENT OF A COLLEGE AND STATE SENATOR. 29 

plied to us, as the early Methodists were called " Rant- 
ers." Good taste forbids the use of nickuaraes. 

2. We believe in God the Father. 

3. We believe that Jesus is the ChrKsl, the Son of 
the living God, and our only Saviour. We n^giwd the 
divinity of Christ as the fundamental truth in the Chris- 
tian svstem. 

4. We believe in the Holy Si>irit, both as to its 
agency in confession and as an indweller in the heart of 
the Christian. 

6. We accept both the Old and Now Testament 
Scriptures as the inspired word of God. 

6. We believe in the future punishnient of the wicked, 
and the future reward of the righteous. 

7. We believe the Deity is a prayer-hearing and 
prayer-answering God. 

8. We observe the institution of the Lord's Supper 
on every Lord's Day. To this table it is our practice 
neither to invite nor debar. We tiuy it is the Lord's 
Supper for all the Lord's children. 

9. We plead for the union of all God's people upon 
the Bible and the Bible alone. 

iO. We maintain that all the ordinances of the Gos- 
pel should be observed as thi.'y were in the days of the 
Apostles. 

11. The Bible is our only creed. 

The Christian Church numbers about 500,000 com- 
municants in the United States. 

Since the nomination of General Garfield for th« 
F*residency, some of the more reckless of his political op- 
poueiits have endeavored to show that he has no religious 



30 JAMES A. GAHFIELD. 

belief. Commenting upon this, the Philatlelphia Tmes, a 
ionrnal unfavorable to the Chicago nominations, said re- 
cently : 

" 8ome of the more reckless organs have assailed 
Genierjil Garfield as a religious heretic. While the theory 
of our government is that the religious belief should not 
hinder or promot-e individual advancement in public trust, 
it is none the less true that this is a Christian govern- 
ment, and that no man could reach the Presidency who 
v.'as not what is commonly accepted as orthodox in his 
faith ; nnd because General Garfield is not an adherent 
of one of the several leading religious organizations, he 
has been accused of unbelief. Such a charge against him 
is wholly without foundation in fact, and without even 
plausible ground to give the semblance of sustaining it. 

" General Garfield is a religious follower of Alexander 
Campbell, as are a number of prominent men of all politi- 
cal convictions in Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia. 
Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ohio. Campbell emigrated to 
this country from Ireland, in 1809, and located in Wash- 
ington county, PennsylvaniM, iiear Bethnny, West Vir- 
ginia, Vv'hich subsequently became his home, and where he 
founded a college over which ho presided until his death 
at an advanced age. He was a Presbyterian minister, but 
in 1810 he and his father seceded from the Presbyterian 
Church and organized a new society at Brush Run, Penn- 
sylvania, called ''Disciples of Christ." They. have been 
popularly known as " Campbcllites," because of the name 
of their d'stinguished founder, who was one of the ablest 
theological disputants of his time. The first point of dis- 
pute raised with the Presbyterian Church by Campbell 



PRESIDENT OF A COLLEGE AND STATE SENATOR. 31 

was in reiec-tina" the entire Confession of Faith, and 
doclaring that the Bible should be the sole creed of the 
new church. Subsequently the Disciples accepted bap- 
tism by immersion, and that, with the free interpreta- 
tion of the Scriptures as members shall choose for them 
selves, sums up the whole taith of the followers of Alex- 
ander Campbell. 

" The Disciples of Christ now number Hearly or quite 
half a million of people, and they command the respect 
of all religious denominations by the simplicity and liber 
ality of their fiith. They have no ordained ministry, but, 
like the Quakers, ail teach when so moved by the Spirit. 
So f;'.r from being unbelievers, they cherish and teach the 

' utmost sanctity for both the Old and New Testaments as 
the inspired word of God, and the divinity of Clirist -is 
one of the fundamental truths of their religious system 
Thej' simply accept the Bible as their creed, rejecting ail 
the creeds of men, and allow the widest latitude of belief 
in the interpretation of the Holy Word. They adminis- 
ter the Sacrament on every Lord's Day, and exhibit their 
opposition to bigotry and intolerance by permitting us to 
join them, as none are invited and none debarred. To 
assume that the believer of such a religious faith is at 
war with the Christian religion, is to make bigotry one 
of the cardinal attributes of Christianity ; and those who 

• assail General GarSeld because of the choice he has made 
of his church will harm only themselves." 

Mr. Garfield was now twenty-five years old, and was 
about to begin the world for himself in a newer sense. 
As the result of twenty years of hard work he had his 
collegiate education, his diploma, his books, his clothes, 



32 JAiiES A. GAIIFIELD. 



o^ 



iiood health, a clear conscience, and a debt of rour hun- 
dred and fifty dollars. His task now was to find some 
employment that would support him, and enable him to 
discharge his debt. To ij^o back to the carpenter's bench 
was not to be thought of He had qualified himself for 
i< liigher place in life, and must now take it. His cuu- 
nection with the Disciples' Church now shaped his destiny 
as much as did his own inclinations. All his family were 
inembers of that church, which had a very large following 
in Ohio. In the county of Portage, not far from where 
the Garfields lived, the Disciples had a struggling college, 
called Hiram Eclectic Institute, which undertook to fur- 
nish education and religious training at the lowest possible 
price. It was natural that the young talented Disciple, 
who h;id just been graduated with distinction in an east- 
ern college, should be attracted to this struggling school. 
He went to Hiram, and was made Professor of Latin and 
Greek. It was no easy place into which he had fallen. 
The college was poor, the professors were poor, the stu- 
dents were poor, and the salaries paid were small, as wei^ 
Uie tuition fees received. Plain living and high thinking 
was the order of the day at the institute^ and there was 
much hard labor to be done on the part of the new i)ro- 
lessor. It was done with characteristic energy, and from 
the first told well upon the success of the college. At 
the close of his first year Professor Garfield was made 
[.lesident of the college, and his field of labor was thus 
widened. In this capacity he not only taught and lec- 
tured, but preached also. 

According to the creed of the Disciples, any person 
having the power, was entitled to preach, and the presi- 




X,-"" ■■ ' ■■•; - "£=" 



COLONEL A. F. ROCKWELL. 




GENERAL D. G. SWAIM. 



Colonel Rockwell and Gen. Swaim have been in 
attendance on the President ever since he was shot. 



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dent of the college was expected to deliver a sermon 
every Sunday as a part of his official duty. President 
Garfield preached with great eloquence and effect, and 
his fame spread through the Campbellite settlement. , It 
was this fact that gave rise to the story that he had been 
a minister, a story which he has taken occasion to deny 
publicly on several occasions. Garfield's purpose was to 
be a lawyer, and he had not swerved from it at the time 
he used to talk of religion and a future life to the little 
congregations in the Disciples' meeting house in Northern 
Ohio. The new president was only twenty six years old, 
probably the youngest man that ever held such a posi- 
tion. He carried into his new office the remarkable 
energy and vigor and good sense which are the main- 
springs of his character. He soon doubled the attend- 
ance at the school, raised its standard of scholarship, 
strengthened its faculty, and inspired everybody con- 
nected with it with something of his own zeal and 
enthusiasm. At the same time he diligently prosecuted 
the study of the law, the profession he had marked out 
for himself, but which he has never been called on to 
practise to any extent. He was also an omnivorous 
reader of general literature, and his remarkable memory 
enabled him to retain what he read. The life at Hiram 
was peaceful and pleasant to the hard-working president. 
Hiram is a lonesome village, three miles from a railroad. 
It lies on a high hill, and overlooks twenty miles oi 
cheese-making country to the southward. It contains 
fifty or sixty houses clustered around the green, in the 
centre of which stands the homely red brick college 
structure. The people were very proud of their college 



34 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

president, and he soon became well known throughout 
Northern Ohio. He was frequently called upon for pub- 
lic speeches, and these added greatly to his reputation 
and popularity. 

Mr. Garfield's place in life now seemed won, and he 
felt at liberty to marry. During his attendance at the 
Geauga Academy, he made the acquaintance of Miss 
Lucretia Rudolph, a pupil, and the daughter of a farmer 
in the neighborhood. The acquaintance ripened into af- 
fection, and the young people entered into an engage- 
ment to be married as soon as the lover should be able to 
assume the responsibility of such a step. In 1857 Mr. 
Garfield and Miss Rudolph were married. The mar- 
riage was one purely of love, and the choice was a wise 
one. Miss Rudolph was a refined, intelligent, affectionate 
girl, who sliared 3'oung Garfield's thirst for knowledge 
and his ambition for culture, and had at the same time 
the domestic tastes and talents which fitted her equally 
to preside over the home of the poor college professor 
and that of the famous statesman. Mrs. Garfield is a 
quiet thoughtful woman, and much of her husband's 
prosperity has been due to the gentle influence she 
has exercised over him. She has grown with her 
husband's growth, and has been, during all his career, 
the appreciative companion of his studies, the loving 
mother of his children, the graceful, hospitable hostess 
of his friends and guests, and the wise and faithful 
helpmeet in the trials, vicissitudes, and successes of 
his busy life. Immediately upon his marriage, Mr. 
Garfield purchased a cottage, fronting upon the college 
{jreen, and here the young couple began their married 



! 



PRESIDENT OF A COLLEGE AND STATE SL*NaTOR. 35 

life, poor and in debt, but with brave hearts and bright 
hopes for the future. 

Two years after his marriage, General Garfieki's polit- 
ical life begun. His sermons had attracted great atten- 
tion to him, and the people of his district began to think 
that so eloquent and forcible a speaker could do them 
good service in other capacities. In 1859 the Anti- 
Slavery party of Portage and Summit counties nominated 
him as their candidate for State Senator, and elected 
him by a large majority. He had taken part in the polit- 
ical campaigns of 1857 and 1858, and had become well 
known as a vigorous local stump orator. Young as he 
was he took a leading position in the State Senate as a 
man unusually well informed on the subjects of legisla- 
tion, and effective and powerful in debate. He seemed 
always prepared to speak, and always spoke with great 
eloquence and force. He did not resign the presidency 
of his college, as he thought a few weeks spent at Colum- 
bus during the winter would not materially interfere in 
the duties of that position, and his associates were anx- 
ious that he should not sever his connection with them. 
His most intimate friend in the Senate was J. D. Cox, 
who subsequently became a major-general of volunteers 
and Governor of Ohio. 

During the session of 1860-61, when the States ol 
the South began to secede from the Union, General Gar- 
field's course was outspoken and manly. He declared 
his belief in the right of the general government to coerce 
the seceded States, and spoke eloquently in favor of the 
prompt and vigorous exercise of that power. The Union, 
he maintained, was meant to be perpetual, and the gov 



til? 

a 



t» • J.U1ES A. GAJiFIELD. 



ernment should prevent its disruption at any cost. He 
urged upon the State of Ohio the necessity of preparing 
to support the general government with all its resources, 
and avowed his willingness to do his part in behalf of 
the Union should the controversy end in war. His elo- 
quence and energy ranked him among the foremost of 
the Uraon leaders, and drew upon him the favorable at- 
tention of the entire State. 

Concerning his service in the Senate, Mr. Whitelaw 
Reid, the accomplished author of " Ohio in the War," 
says : " Senator Garfield at once took high rank in the 
legislature. . . His genial, warm-hearted nature served 
to increase the kindness with which both political friends 
and opponents regarded him. Three Western Reserve 
Senators formed the Radical triumvirate in that able and 
patriotic legislature which was to place Ohio in line for 
the war. One was a highly rated professor of Oberlin 
College ; another a lawyer already noted for force and 
learning, the son-in-law of the president of Oberlin ; the 
third was one village carpenter and village teacher from 
Hiram. He was the youngest of the three, but he 
speedily became the first. The trials of the next six years 
were to confirm the verdict of the little group about the 
State capitol that soon placed Garfield before both Cox 
and Monroe. The college professor was abundantly sat- 
isfied with the success in life which made him a- consul 
at a South American port. The adroit, polished, and 
able lawyer became a painstaking general, who, perhaps, 
oftener deserved success than won it, and who at last, 
profiting by the gratitude of the people to their soldiers, 
rose to be governor of the State, but there (for the time 



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PRESIDENT OF A COLLEGE AND STATE SENATOR. 37 

at least) ended. The village carpenter si-irted lower in 
the race of the war, and rose higher, became one of the 
leaders of our national councils, and confessedly one of 
the ablest among the younger of our statesmen. 

" When the secession of the Southern States began, 
national considerations came to occupy a large share of 
the attention of the Senate. Mr. Garfield's course was- 
manly and outspoken. He was foremost in the very 
small number (only six voting in the line) who thought 
the spring of 1861 a bad time for adopting the Corwin 
constitutional amendment, forbidding Congress from ever 
legislating on the subject of slavery in the States. He 
was among the foremost in maintaining the right of the 
national government to coerce the seceded States. 
* Would you give up the forts and other government 
property in those States, or would you fight to maintain 
}'our right to them ? ' was his adroit way of putting the 
question to a conservative Hepublican who deplored his 
incendiary views. He took the lead in revising the old 
statute about treason, with a view to adapting it to the 
instant exigencies. When the ' Million War Bill,' as it 
was popularly known at the time, came up, he was the 
most conspicuous of its defenders. Judge Key, of Ham- 
ilton county (subsequently a noted member of McClel- 
lan's st^if), preluded his vote for it with a protest against 
the policy of the administration in entering upon the war. 
It was left to Garfield to make the reply. The newspa- 
pers of that day all make mention of his effort in terms 
of the highest admiration. ' He regretted that Senator 
Key should have turned from honoring his country to 
pay his highest tribute of praise, at a time like this, to 



38 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

party. The senator approved a defense of national prop- 
erty, but denounced any effort to retake it if only it were 
once captured. Did he mean that if Washington were 
taken by the Rebels, he would oppose attempts to regain 
possession of the national capital ? Where was this doc- 
trine of non-resistance to stop ? He had hoped that the 
senator would not, in this hour of the nation's peril, open 
the books of party to re-read records that ought now, at 
least, to be forgotten. But since the senator had thought 
this a fitting time to declare his distrust of the President 
and of the cabinet, and particularly of Ohio's honored 
representative in the cabinet, he had only this to say in 
reply : that it would be well for the senator, amid his 
partisan recollections, to remember whose cabinet it was 
that embraced traitors among its most distinguished rep- 
resentatives, and sent them forth from its most secret ses- 
sions to betray their knowledge to their country's ruin.' " 

Mr. Garfield was determined from the first to resign 
his position in the legislature and enter the army. The 
legislature was still in session when the time for ap- 
pointing the officers of the Ohio troops came, and Gar- 
field did not immediately press his claims for an appoint- 
ment. There was still much to be done in the work of 
preparing the State for war, and in this he took an active 
and leading part. • In " Ohio in the War," from which 
we have quoted before, Mr. Whitelaw Reid thus runs up 
what was done in this respect, and the part taken by Mr. 
Garfield : 

" The State of Ohio, which in the next four years 
was to contribute to the national service an army of 
soldiers amounting in the aggregate, according to the 



PRESIDENT OF A COLLEGE AND STATE SENATOR. 39 



figures of the Provost- Marshal General, to three hundred 
and ten thousand men, had in 1860 a population of not 
quite two and a half millions. The existence of its ter- 
ritorial organization had only begun a year before the 
century ; but it was already, and as it seemed was likel^^ 
long to remain, the third State in population and wealth 
in the Union. More than half of its area was under cul- 
tivation, and more than half of its adult males were far- 
mers, there being of this class two hundred and seventy- 
seven thousand owning farms, averaging a little over 
ninety acres to each man. So well was this most impor- 
tant body of the State's producers aided by the natural 
fertility of the soil, that they furnished each year more 
than double the entire amount of food, animal and vege- 
table, that was needed for the support of the whole popu- 
lation of the State. In 1860 they exported nearly two 
million barrels of flour, over two and a half million bush- 
els of wheat, three million bushels of other grains, and 
half a million barrels of pork. The value of the exports 
of agricultural products for that year from Ohio swelled 
to fifty-six and a half million dollars. 

" Not less industrious and prosperous were the manu- 
facturers of the State. The value of their products for 
1860 was over one hundred and twenty-two millions of 
dollars, an increase of ninety-eight per cent, in a single 
decade. The city of Cincinnati alone, where Indians 
were trading wampum and buying blankets when New 
York had already attained the rank of the metropolis of 
the continent, manufactured in 1860, sixteen million dol- 
lars worth of clothing, a larger quantity than New York 
itself produced in the same year. 



40 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

" But the wealth of the State and the welfare of her 
people, so eloquently illustrated in figures like these, may 
perhaps be more clearly presented in a briefer statement. 
The assessed value of her taxable property rose in 1860 
to nearly a thousand million dollars ; while, by the esti- 
mate of her Commissioner of Statistics, the entire debts 
of the people would not amount to twenty per cent, of 
that valuation. Let us not fail to add that, by the benef- 
icent legislation of the State, none of her children were 
growing up without the free gift of an education that 
should fit them for the duties of citizenship ; that there 
were published and mainly circulated within her borders 
twenty-four daily newspapers, two hundred and sixty- 
five weeklies, and fifty-four monthlies, making in the ag- 
gregate seventy -two million copies ; and that so general 
was the devotion to religion and the provision for relig- 
ious instruction, that the church edifices in the State con- 
tained sittings enough for the entire population of the 
State. 

" The impending war was to have for its essence the 
spirit of hostility to the existence, or at least to the 
power of the system of human slavery ; and so it comes 
that the position of the State on this subject is not less 
essential to a comprehension of her great part in the 
struggle, than is an appreciation of her wonderful pro- 
gress and resources. The political conservatism which 
prosperity and accumulating wealth naturally engender, 
was further favored in Ohio by the circumstances of her 
settlement and geography. Along four hundred and 
thirty-six miles of her border lay slave States. From 
these many of her pioneers had come ; many more 




JAMES G. BT.AINE, PRES. GARFIELD'S SECRETARY OF STATE. 



PRESIDENT OF A COLLEGE AND STATE SENATOR. 41 

traced with Kentuckians and West Virgiiiians their com- 
mon lineage back to the eastern slope of the ancient 
Dominion. In time of war the most effective support' 
to the exposed settlements of the infant State had come 
from their generous and warlike neighbors across the 
Ohio. In the long peace that followed, the heartiest 
friendships and warmest social attachments naturally 
went out to those who had been proved in the hour of 
trial. If her churches on every hillside taught a re- 
ligion which found no actual warrant in the Bible for the 
system of human slavery, they at least had no difficulty 
in believing that the powers that be are ordained of 
God, and by consequence in enforcing a toleration which 
proved quite as acceptibl§ across the border as the most 
exhaustive scriptural exegesis. North of the National 
Road, which for many years was the Mason and Dixon's 
line of Ohio politics, different views prevailed ; and the 
people, tracing their ancestry to Puritan rather than Vir- 
ginia stock, cherished different feelings ; but the southern 
half of the State, being more populous and more influen- 
tial, long controlled the elections, and inspired the temper 
of the government and the legislation. 

" In the Presidential contest of 1848, the electoral vote 
of the State was thus thrown for Lewis Cass. In 1852, 
it was in like manner given to Franklin Pierce. But by 
this time a change ha(? begun. In the very heart of the 
conservative feeling of the State, one of the foremost law- 
yers of the city of Cincinnati had for 3'ears been keeping 
up an antislavery agitation. He had found a few, like- 
minded with himself, but society and the church had 
combine^l to frown him down. Still, so sinde-mind'.'d and 



4^ JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

sincere was he, that, though the most ambitious of men, 
he resolutely faced the popular current, shut his eyes to 
all hope of political advancement, and daily labored at 
the task of resisting the pretentions of slavery, giving 
legal protection to the friendless and helpless negroes, 
and diffusing an abolition sentiment among the conserva- 
tive men of the border, and the influential classes of the 
great city of the State, vt^hose prosperity was supposed to 
depend upon her intimate relations and immense trade 
with the slave-holding regions to the south of her. To 
this task he brought some peculiar qualifications. Pro- 
foundly ignorant of men, he was, nevertheless, profoundly 
versed in the knowledge of man. The baldest charlatan 
might deceive him into trusting his personal worth, but 
the acutest reasoner could not mislead him in deter- 
mining the general drift of popular sentiment, and the 
political tendencies of the times. Conscious of abili- 
ties that might pLice him in the front rank of our states- 
men, his sagacit}^, not less than his conscience, taught 
him to take Time for his ally, and lightly regarding the 
odium of his present work, to look confidingly to the 
larger promises of the future. Loving personal popu- 
larity, he was entirely destitute of the qualifications for 
attaining it. Really warm-hearted and singularly tena- 
cious in his attachments, he was perpetually regarded 
as utterly selfish and without capacity for friendship ; so 
that his defects, no less than his merits, shut him up 
to a course which could hope for personal triumph only 
in the triumph of great principles. He was gifted by 
nature witii a massive and cogent eloquence, little likely 
to sway the immediate passions of the popuLice, but 



PRESIDENT OF A COLLEGE AND STATE SENATOR. 43 

sure to infiltrate the judgment and conscience of tlio 
controlling classes in the community. His energy was 
tii'eless, and his will absolutely inflexible. 

" Under such leadership, ably seconded by the faith- 
ful and true old man who so long stood in Ohio the 
champion of Abolition, pure and simple, and the peculiar 
representative of the Reserve, a new element sprang up 
in Ohio politics. It cast a handful of votes for Birney 
for the Presidency ; had risen to proportions which made 
it a respectable element in political calculations, when it 
cast, what was thought to be, the vote of the balance of 
power for Van Buren ; and had reached the height of its 
unpopularity with the old ruling class of the State when, 
in 1852, refusing to sustain General Scott on account of 
the ' anti-agitation' and ' finality of the slavery question' 
features in his platform, it persisted in again giving the 
votes of its balance of power to John P. Hale, and thus 
permitting the triumph of Franklin Pierce. 

" But before another Presidential election the shrewd 
calculations of the sagacious leader of this outcast amono- 
parties had been realized. Holding, as has been seen, 
the balance of power, and subordinating all minor ques- 
tions to what they regarded as the absorbing issue of 
slavery or antislavery, they had already, with a haiidful 
of votes, controlled a great election, and sent this Aboli- 
tion leader to the United States Senate. A greater 
triumph now awaited him. As dexterous in manaainc^- 
parties as he was blind in managing men, he placed such 
stress upon the new organization which had iison upon 
the ruins of the old Whig party, that, detesting his 
principles and distrusting himself, they were, ncvertht? 



44 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

less, forced to secnre the votes without which the elec- 
tion were lost in advance, by placing his name at the 
head of their ticket, and bearing the odious Abolitionist 
in triumph into the chair of the chief executive of tho 
State. The impulse thus given was never wholly lost; 
for though the people were by no means as radical as 
their governor, they gave at their next Presidential 
election a handsome majority to Fremont, and a year 
later ngain elected their Abolition leader. 

"Whether it was through a far-seeing anticipation of 
what was to grow out of this antislavery struggle, or 
whether it was only a result of the sagacious forecast 
which in most things distinguished his administration, 
Governor Chase early began to attempt an effective or- 
ganization of the militia. In this, as in his political 
views, he Avas in advance of his times. In every State 
west of the Alleghanies the militia had fallen into undis- 
guised contempt. The old-fashioned militia musters had 
been given up ; the subject had been abandoned as fit 
only to be the fertile theme for the ridicule of rising 
writers and witty stump orators. The cannon issued by 
the Government were left for the uses of political parties 
on the occasion of mass meetings or victories at the polls. 
The small arms were scattered, rusty, and become worth- 
less. In Chicago a novel drill had been an inducement for 
the organization of the Ellsworth Zouaves, and here and 
there through the West the young men of a city kept up a 
military company ; but these were the exceptions. Popu- 
lar prejudice against doing military duty was insurmount- 
able, and no name for these exceptional organizations so 
etruck the popular fancy as that of ' Corn-stalk Militia.' 




WM. WINDOM. PRES. GARFIELDS SECRETARY OF THE 



TBEASUBY, 




^ ^ .'r^T^'i'NTERlVG LAK «: VIE W CEMETEBY. 

THE rUNEKAL CAR ENiEKix^^^ ^ 



PRESIDENT OF A COLLEGE AND STATE SENATOIl. 45 

" Governor Chase at once essayed the formation of 
eimilarly uniformed and equipped militia companies at all 
leading points throughout the State, with a provisional 
organization into regiments and brigades. At first the 
popular ridicule only was excited ; by and by attention to 
the subject was slowly aroused. Some legislative aupport 
was secured, a new arsenal was established ; an issue of 
new arms was obtained from the general government; 
and an approximation was at last made to a military peace 
establishment. Such was the interest finally excited 
that at one time a convention of nearly two hundred 
officers assembled at Columbus to consult as to the best 
means of developing and fostering the militia system ; 
and the next year, before going out of office. Governor 
Chase had the satisfaction of reviewing, at Dayton, nearly 
thirty companies, assembled from different parts of the 
State— every one of which was soon to participate in the 
war that was then so near and so little anticipated. His 
successor continued the general policy thus inaugurated, 
urged the legislature to pay the militia for the time spent 
in drill, and enforced the necessity of expanding the 
system. Comparatively little was accomplished, and yet 
the organization of Ohio militia was far superior to that 
existing in any of the States to the westward. All of 
them combined did not possess so large a militia force as 
the First Ohio Regiment, then under the command of 
Colonel King, of Dayton. 

" Thus, materially prosperous and politically progres- 
sive, yet with much of the leaven of her ancient conser- 
vatism still lingering, and with the closest affiliations of 
friendship and trade with the slave-holding States of the 



iG JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

Ohio and Mississippi valle3^s, but with the germs of a 
preparation for hostilities, and such a nucleus of militia 
as might serve to protect the border from immediate 
ravages, Ohio entered upon the year that was to witness 
the paralysis of her industry and trade, the sundering of 
her old friendships, her political revolution, and the devo- 
tion of her entire energies to the business of war. 

" The legislative and executive departments of the 
State government, upon which were precipitated the 
weightiest burdens of the war, had been chosen as repre- 
sentatives rather of the average antislavery progress of the 
Whig party, than of the more advanced positions to which 
ex-Governor Chase had been committing his supporters. 
Great pains were taken to welcome the legislatures of 
Kentucky and Tennessee on their visit to Columbus, and 
to convince them of the warm friendship borne them, not 
less by the government than by the people of the State. 
Union-saving speeches and resolutions marked the popular 
current; and, as had long been usual, the Union-saving 
temper went largely toward the surrender to the South 
of everything save the absolutely vital points in contro- 
versy. The governor, in his inaugural address, while 
firmly insisting upon hostility to the extension of slavery, 
had also advocated the colonization of the blacks in Cen- 
tral or South America, and faithful obedience to what 
were regarded as our constitutional obligations to the 
Blave-holding States. A leading member of the party in 
the Senate* had introduced a bill to prevent by heavy 
penalties the organization or the giving of any aid to 

* Hon. R. D. Harrison, afterward elected from the Seventh District, to 
•ucceed ex-Govetuor Corvviu iu Congress. 



PRESIDENT OF A COLLEGE AND STATE SENATOK. 47 

parties like John Brown's, and it had come within three 
votes of a passage. 

" More striking proof of the conciliatory disposition 
with which the legislature was animated was to be given. 
The constitutional amendment carried through Congress 
by Thomas Corwin, and submitted to the legislatures of 
the several States for ratification, provided that hereafter 
no amendment or other change in the powers of govern- 
ment should be permitted, Avhereby the national authori- 
ties should be enabled to interfere with slavery within its 
present limits. Before the beginning of actual hostilities 
in Charleston Harbor, it was apparent that, carrying 
the effort for conciliation to the farthest extreme, the 
heavy Republican majority in the legislature meant to 
give the sanction of Ohio to this irreversible guarantee to 
slavery in the fundamental law of the land. Before its 
place on the Senate calendar was reached, however, came 
the bombardment of Sumter, the surrender, and the call 
of the President to protect the capital from the danger 
of sudden capture by the conspirators. On the 15th of 
April, Columbus was wild with the excitement of the call 
to arms. On the 16th the feeling was even more intense ; 
troops were arriving, the telegraphs and mails were bur- 
dened with exhortations to the legislature to grant money 
and men to any extent; the very air came laden with 
the clamor of war, and of the swift, hot haste of the peo- 
ple to plunge into it. On the 17th, while every pulse 
around them was at fever-heat, the senators of Ohio, as a 
last effort, passed the Corwin constitutional amendment, 
only eight members out of the whole Senate opposing it.* 

* The eight who had the foresight to perceive that the 17th of Aprii. 



48 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

" But this was the last effort at conciliation. Thence- 
forward the State strove to conquer rather than to com- 
promise. Already, on the 16th of April, within less than 
twenty-four hours after the President's call for troops 
had been received, the Senate had matured, carried 
through the several readings, and passed a bill approprki- 
ting one million of dollars for placing the State upon a 
war footing, and for assisting the general government in 
meetint"' the shock of the rebellion.* 

" The debate which preceded the rapid passage of 
this bill illustrated the melting away of party lines under 
the white heat of patriotism. Senator Orr, the Demo- 
cratic representative of the Crawford County Senatorial 
District, ' was opposed to the war, and even to the pur- 
poses of the bill, but he should vote for it as the best 
means of testifying his hostility to secession.' Judge 

18G1, was uot a time to be strising to add security to slavery were, Messrs. 
Buck, Cox, Garfield, Glass, Monroe, Morse, Parrish, and Smith. 

* Some days earlier a bill had been introduced appropriating a hundred 
thousand dollars for war purposes. On a hint from the executive that pt^r- 
liaps other and more important measu res might be needed, action was de- 
layed. Then the million war Vjill was introduced, in response to a message 
from Governor Dennison, announcing the call from W^ashiugton, maintain- 
ing the necessity for defending the integrity of the Union, and concluding 
as follows : 

" But as the contest may grow to greater dimensions than is now antici- 
pated, I deem it my duty to recommend to the General Assembly of this 
State to make provisions proportionate to its means to assist the National 
authorities in restoring the integrity and strength of the Union, in all its 
amplitued, as the only means of preserving the rights of all the States, and 
insuring th permanent peace and prosperity of the whole country. I ear- 
nestly recommend, also, that an appropriation of not less than four hundred 
and fifty thousand dollars be immediate y made for the purchase of arms 
and equipments for the use of the volunteer militia of the State. I need 
not remind you of the pressing exigency for the prompt organization and 
arming of the military force of the Slate." 




WAYNE MACVEAGH, PRES. GARFIELD'S ATTORNEY-GENERAL. 



PRESIDENT OF A COLLEGE AND STATE SENATOH. 49 

Thoraas M. Key, of Cincinnati, the ablest Democrat in 
the Senate, followed.* lie, too, was in favor of the bill. 
' Yet he felt it in his soul to be an unwarranted declara- 
tion of war against seven sister States. He entered his 
solemn protest against the line of action announced by 
the executive. It was an usurpation by a President, in 
whom and in whose advisers he had no confidence; it 
was the beginning of a military despotism. He firmly 
believed it to be the desire of the administration to drive 
off the border States, and permanently sever the Union. 
!But he was opposed to secession, and in this contest 
he could ilo no otherwise than stand by the stars and 
stripes.' Next came Mr. Moore, of Butler county, con- 
spicuous as the most conservative of those reckoned at 
all with the Republican party in the Senate ; in fact as 
almost the ideal of the old ' Silver-Gray Whig.'f Hith- 
erto he had voted consistently against all military bills, 
and had even avowed his readiness to surrender the 
Southern forts ratlier than bring on a collision. ' Now 
he felt called upon to do the most painful duty of his life. 
But there was only one course left. He had no words of 
bitterness for party with which to mar the solemnity of 
the hour. This only he had to say : He could do noth- 
ing else than stand by the grand old flag of the countrv, 
and stand by it to the end. He should vote for the bill.' 
" Thus, to recur to the figure already used, did the 
iron rules of party discipline and prejudice, melting be- 
neath the white heat of patriotism, still mark in broken 
outline the old divisions beneath and through which the 

* Subsequtiutly oloiiel and jud^re-advocate oa McClellau'.s stall, 
f Sub.^vtjueutlj- ci)U>i!t>l of one of ilie bu.:Hired day^' r.-{^imfiii.8. 



go JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

molten currents freely mingled. The bill pnosed by an 
almost uHaiiimous vote ; one senator only, Mr. Newman, 
of Scioto county, voting against it.* 

" In the House, however, party opposition gave way 
more slowly. That same afternoon the bill went over 
from the Senate, and an effort was made to suspend tliO 
rules, so as to put it upon its passage. The Democrats 
demanded time for consultation. Mr. Wm. B. Woods t 
(ex-Speaker and Democratic leader) gave notice that it 
could not be unanimously passed without time were 
given. For one, he wanted to hear from his constituents. 
Mr. Geo. W. Andrews,J: of Auglaize county, denounced 
the excitement on the subject of war, here and over the 
country, as crazy fanaticism. Mr. Devore, of Brown 
county, ' regarded the interests of the country, south of 
the Ohio BWer as well as north of it. The despatches 
about the danger to Washington were preposterous, and 
were mostly manufactured for evil purposes.' Mr. Jes- 
sup, of Hamilton county, gave notice that if the majority 
wanted his vote they must wait for it. And so, the Re- 
publicans agreeing to delay in the hope of securing har- 
mony, the bill went over, after two ineffectual efforts to 
suspend the rules, jj 

* Under the terrible pressure of public condemnation, especially in his 
own district, Mr. Newman shortly afterward asked leave to change his vote. 

\ Subsequently colonel of a three years' regiment, and brevet raajor- 
• general of volunteers. 

t Subsequently Colonel of the Fifteenth Ohio in the three months' ser 
vice, and Lieutenant-Colonel, until after the Clarksville surrender, of the 
Seventy-fourth Ohio. 

B Ih these efforts twenty five Democrats voted against suspending the 
rules, fourteen vfttfed with the Republicans for suspension, and eight wer« 
absent when the roll was called. 



PRESIDENT OF A COLLEGE AND STATE SENATaR. 51 

" The next day, the Democrats having in the mean- 
time spent three hours in excited debate in caucus, the 
effort to suspend the rules again failed. But the leaders 
earnestly assured the house that with another day's de- 
lay there was a strong probability of the unanimous pas- 
sage of the bill. A despatch had already been received 
from Scioto county, denouncing Senator Newman for his 
vote against it in the Senate, and it was said that his son 
was enlisted in one of the companies then on the way to 
Columbus. Mr. Hutcheson, of Madison county, an ex- 
treme States'-Rights Democrat, and almost a secessionist, 
spoke handsomely in favor of the bill, and drew out 
hearty applause from house and galleries. But delay 
was still insisted upon, and so the bill went over to the 
third day from the date of its introduction. 

" Then all were ready. Ex-Speaker Woods led off 
in a stirring little speech, declaring his intention ' to 
sfcmd by the Government in peace or in war, right or 
wrong.' Mr. William J. Fkgg, of Hamilton county, 
followed. ' He was glad that delay had produced una- 
nimity. But he had been of the number that had favored 
instant action. He had done so because Jefferson Davis 
had shown no hesitation in suspending the rules, and 
marching through first, second, and third readings with- 
out waiting to hear from his constituents. He had ever 
advocated peace, but it was always peace /or the Union. 
Now he was ready for peace for the Union, or war for it, 
love for it, hatred for it, everything for it.' Mr. Andrews, 
of Auglaize county, had less to say of the crazy fanati- 
cism of the excitement. ' The act of South Carolimi to- 
ward the Democrats of the North was a crime for which 



52 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

the English language couM find no description. It had 
forever severed the last tie that bound them to2;ether.' 

" Amid such displays of feeling on the part of the 
opposition, the bill finally went through, on the 18th of 
April, by an unanimous vote ; ninety-nine in its favor. 
It appropriated half a million dollars for the purpose of 
carrying into effect any requisition of the President to 
protect the national government ; four hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars for the purchase of arms and equipments 
for the militia of the State ; and the remaining fifty thou- 
sand as an extraordinary contingent fund for the gov- 
ernor. The Commissioners of the Sinking Fund were 
authorized to borrow the money, at six per cent, interest, 
and to issue certificates therefor which should be free from 
State taxation. 

'' Menntime the Senate, under the leadership of Mr. 
Garfield, had matured and passed a bill defining and pro- 
viding punishment for the crime of treason against l\\e 
State of Ohio. It declared any resident of the State who 
gave aid and comfort to the enemies of the United States 
guilty of ti'eason against the State, to be punished by im- 
prisonment in the penitentiary at hard labor for life.* 

" With the passage of these bills all semblance of 
party oj (position to necessary war measures disappeared 
from the proceedings of the legislature. Mr. Vallandig- 
ham visited the capital and earnestly remonstrated with 
the Democrats for giving their sanction to the war; but 
the patriotic enthusiasm of the crisis could not be con- 
trolled by party discipline. Under the leadership of ex- 

* This bill was uuderatood at lUta Uluu to be speciallj aimtni at Mr. Val- 
landitrbaiu. 




ROBERT T. LINCOLN, PRES. GARFIELD'S SECRETARY OF WAR. 



PRKSFDKNT OF A COLLEGE AND STATE SENATOR. 53 

Speaker Woods, a bill passed exempting the property of 
volunteers from execution for debt during their service. 
Then, as within a few days it became evident that far 
more troops were pressing for acceptance than were 
needed to fill the President's call for thirteen regiments, 
the legislature acceded to the sagacious suggestion of 
the governor that they should be retained for the service 
of the State. The bill authorized the acceptance of ten 
additional regiments, provided five hundred thousand 
dollars for their payment, and a million and a half more 
to be used in case of invasion of the State, or the ap- 
pearance of danger of invasion. Other measures were 
adopted looking to the danger of shipments of arms 
through Ohio to the South; organizing the militia of the 
State ; providing suitable officers for duty on the staff of 
the governor ; requiring contracts for subsistence of the 
volunteers to be let to the lowest bidder; authorizing 
the appointment of additional general officers. No little 
hostility toward some members of Governor Dennison's 
staff was exhibited, but with the governor himself the 
relations of the legislature were entirely harmonious. 
In concert with him the war legislation was completed ; 
and when, within a month after the first note of alarm 
from Washington the General Assembly adjourned, the 
State was, for the first time in its history, on a war 
footing. 

" Before the adjournment the acting speaker had re- 
signed to take a command in one of the regiments start- 
ing for Washington; two leading senators had been 
appointed brigadier-generals ; and large numbers of the 
other members had, in one capacity or another, entered 



54 JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 

the service. It was the first of the war legislatures. 
It met the first shock; under the sudden pressure ma- 
tared the first military laws. It labored under difficul- 
ties inseparable from so unexpected a plunge into duties 
so novel. But it may now be safely said that in patnot- 
'ism, in zeal and ability, it was second to neither of its 
successors, and that in the exuberance of patr.o ic senti- 
ment which wiped out party lines and united all in com- 
mon elTorts to meet the sudden danger, it surpassed them 

" « Althouo'h the country had been greatly excited by 
the acts of "secession by the several States, the seizure 
of forts, and the defiance of the general government 
there still lingered in the minds of the most a trust that 
in some way the matter would be adjusted and blood- 
shed would be avoided. There was much talk of war on 
the part of the young and excitable, but the inQuent.al 
men and the masses were slow to believe m the possi- 

bility of war. , , 

" Before the bombardment of Fort Sumter had ended 
twenty full companies were offered to the Governor of 
' Ohio for immediate service. With the news of the sur- 
render and the caU of the President for volunteers the 
excitement became fervidly intense. Militia officers tele- 
Ki-aphed their readiness for orders. The President of 
Kenyon College tendered his services in any capacity, and 
be-an by enlisting in the ranks. The Cleveland Grays, 
the° Kover Guards, the Columbus Videttes, the State Fen- 
cibles, the Governor's Guards, the Dayton Light Guards, 
the Guthrie Grays— the best known and best drilled mili- 
tia companies in the State -held meetings, and unani- 



rrvF.SiDENT OF A COLLEGE AND STATE SEXATOR. 55 

mously voted to place themselves at the disposal of the 
Government, and telegraphed to Columbus f«t orders. 
Portsmouth announced a company ready to march. Chil- 
licothe asked if she should send a company that day. 
Circleville telegraphed ofiering one or more companies, 
announcing that they had two thousand dollars raised 
to equip them. Xenia asked leave to raise a battery 
of artillery and a company of infantry. Canton sent up 
an officer, begging the acceptance of two companies. 
Lebanon wanted two companies accepted. Springfield 
wanted the same. Lancaster started a company to Colum- 
bus. Cincinnati, Dayton, Cleveland counted their offers 
by the thousand. Steedman, from Toledo, pledged a full 
regiment in ten days. Prominent men, all over the 
State, telegraphed asking what they could do, and plac- 
ing themselves at the disposal of tiie authorities. The 
instant, all devouring blaze of excited patriotism was as 
amazing as it was unprecedented. Let it not be forgot- 
ten that among the first offers were some from colored 
men promising companies, and that, in obedience to the 
temper of those times, they w^ere refused. 

******** 
"■ But a single day was required to raise the first two 
rea'iments in answer to the President's call. On the next 
they arrived, in separate com[»anies, at Columbus, on their 
way, as it proved, to Washington. . . On the morning of 
the 18th of April the First and Second Ohio were or- 
ganized from the first companies that had thus hurried to 
Columbus. They were mostly made up of well known 
militia organizations from leading towns and cities. 

" There were no arms, uniforms, equipments, transpor- 



5G JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

tation for them. But the Government was importunate. 
' Send them on instantly/ was the order from Washing- 
ton, ' and we will equip them here.' Even among the 
civilians, then for the first time attempting the manage- 
ment of soldiers, there were forebodings concerning the 
policy of starting troops to defend a threatened city with- 
out guns or nmniuiiition ; but wuh wild cheers from the 
volunteers, and many a ' God bless you' fro^m the on- 
lookers, the trains bearing the unarmed crowd moved 
out of the Columbus depot, long before dawn, on the 
morning of the 19b}i of April. But before they started, 
fresh arrivals had more than filled their places in the 
hastily improvised camp m the woods beyond the rail- 
road depot, which, with a happy thought of the first 
advocate for tlie 'coercion of sovereign states,' Governor 
Dennison had named Camp Jackson. 

" What it now remains to us to tell of the first war 
administration of Ohio, constitutes the highest claim of 
the maligned governor to the regard and gratitude of his 
state and of the country. To a man of his sensitive 
temper and special desire for the good opinion of othei"s, 
the unjust and measureless abuse to which iiis earnest 
efforts had subjected him were agonizing. But he suf- 
fered no sign to esc;ipe him, and with a single-hearted 
devotion, and an abilitv for which the State had not 
credited him, he proceeded to the measures most neces- 
sary in the crisis. 

" First of all, the lo.m authorized by the Million War 
Bill was to be placed, for without money the State could 
do notliing. Tiie common council of Cincinnati offered to 



p 




THOMAS L. JAMES, PEES. GAEFIELD'S POSTMASTEE-GENEEAL. 



PRESIDENT OF A COLLEGE AND STATE SENATOR. 57' 

take a quarter of a million of it, and backed its offer by 
forwarding the money. The State bank, full of confi- 
dence in its old officer, now at the head of the adminis- 
tration, was entirely willing to take the rest; the com- 
mon council of Columbus was willing to take a hundred 
thousand dollars; and offers speedily came in for smallei 
M mounts from other quarters. The governor was anxious, 
however, that a general opportunity should be given to 
patriotic citizens throughout the State. He therefore 
discouraged somewhat the large subscribers, and soon 
had the loan favorably placed. 

" Next after money came the demand for arms. 
For its tvventy-tiiree regiments already raised, the State 
of Ohio had only one thousand m'ne hundred and eighty- 
four muskets and rifles of all calibres, and one hundred 
and fifty sabres. The Governor of Illinois had on 
hands a considerable number, of which Dennison heard. 
He at once resolved to procure them. Senator Garfield 
was at hand, ready and willing for any work to which 
he might be assigned. Duly armed with a requisition 
from the proper authorities, he was dispatched to the 
Illinois capital. He succeeded in securing five thousand 
muskets, and shipped them straightway to Columbus. 
At the same time — for the governor, in the midst of the 
popular abuse, had alre;idy begun to display a capacity 
for broad and statesnmnlike views — he was instructed to 
lay before the Illinois executive a suggestion as to tliu 
propriety of uniting the Hlinois troops and all others in 
the Mississippi Valley under the Ohio major-general. 
Glad to hear of an olficer anywhere who knew anything 
about war, tliey joyfully consented, and so iSlcCiellan's 



58 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

department was, with their full approval, presently ex- 
tended from West Virginia to the Mississippi. 

" Five thousand arms, however, were but a drop in 
the bucket, and accoutrements were almost wholly want- 
ing. The supply in the entire country was quite limited ; 
even in Europe there were not enough immediately ac- 
cessible to meet the sudden demand ; and it was evident 
that the first and most enersretic in the market would be 
the first to secure arms for their soldiers. Governor 
Dennison accordingly selected Judge-Advocate-General 
Wolcott of his staff, a gentleman of fine ability and of 
supposed business capacity, to proceed forthwith to New 
York as his agent for the purchase of arms. It was 
under his management that the hasty shipment of tent- 
poles had been made, on which was based one of the 
earliest complaints against the State administration. 
He secured at once, on terms as favorable as could then 
be obtained, about five thousand muskets, with equip- 
ments, knapsacks, canteens, etc., to correspond. Meet- 
ing the agent of the State of Massachusetts, just as he 
was about to sail for England to purchase arras, he com- 
missioned him to purchase there, for Ohio, a hundred 
thousand dollars worth of Enfield rifles. Subsequently 
Mr. Wolcott secured authority from the Ordnance Office 
of the War Department, to purchase directly, on the 
account of the United States, such arms and accoutre- 
ments as were needed for Ohio troops ; and the energy 
and personal supervision which the governor was thus 
able to secure in the transaction of the government busi- 
ness for his State, went largely to aid the rapid arming 
and equipment of the Ohio troops-. Before this, however, 



PllESlDENT OF A COLLEGE AND STATE SEN.v.TOK. 59 

by the aid of another agent, General Wool had been 
prevailed upon to order ten thousand muskets through 
to Columbus, and the first needs were thus supplied." 

To all of Governor Dennison's efVorts, Mr. Garfield 
gave a cordial and active support, and rendered the most 
valuable assistance in the task of putting the State in 
condition to do its full duty in the great struggle which 
had now fairly opened. 



CILA.PTER III. 

TF^ CJOLLEGE PRESIDENT BECOMES A BRIGADIER-GENERAL. 

Mr. C vrfield organizes a Military Company among his Students — la made 
Lieutenant-Colouel — Is Promoted to be Colonel of the Forty-second 
Ohio Infantry — Organization and History of the Regiment — A Noble 
Record — The Forty-second ordered to the field — Joins Genera] Buell's 
Army in Kentucky — Garfield is placed in Command of a Brigade — State 
of affairs in the West — Garfield's first Campaign — An Important Trust 
— The March up the Sandy Valley — The First Blow struck — Rout of 
the Rebel Cavalry — Colonel Garfield wins a handsome Victory over 
Humphrey Marshall at Middle Creek — Flight of Marshall's Forces — 
Garfield sets the Ball of Victory in motion — A true estimate of the 
Victory of Middle Creek — A New Dodge — Out of Supplies — The Flood 
in the Big Sandy — Garfield forces a Steamboat to ascend the River — 
Garfield at the Wheel — A Thrilling Incident — Garfield wins another 
Victory — Drives the Rebels from Pound Gap — Is ordered to Louisville 
— Is congratulated by General Buell in General Orders — Value of hia 
Operations. 

As has been stated, it was Mr. Garfield's intention from 
the first to enter the army. He was not able to carry 
this intention into effect until after his return from Illi- 
nois, whither he had been sent to purchase arms, as 
has been related. He now set to work to organize a 
command, which was mainly recruited from among the 
students of Hiram Eclectic Institute. This company was 
promptly offered for service, and constituted the nucleus 
of the Forty-second Ohio Regiment, of which organiza- 
tion Mr. GiuficlJ was appointed lieutenant-colonel by 



15ECX)Mi:S A BlilGADIER-GENEHAL. 



61 



Governor Denison. Mr. Garfield might have » een ap- 
pointed colonel of the regiment had he chosen to press 
the matter, but with characteristic modesty he lefrMined 
from doing so, and accepted the position offered to him, 
though it was inferior to the rank he was entitled to 
expect. He declared his entire willingness to start low, 
and learn as he advanced. Five weeks were devoted 
to organizing and drilling the regiment, and about the 
time it was complete, and ready for service, Garfield 
was promoted, without any solicitation on his part, to 
the colonelcy. 

It will be interesting to the reader to know the sub- 
sequent history of this gallant regiment. The following 
list of its officers and the account of its brilliant; career 
are taken from Whitelaw Reid's " Ohio in the War." 



42d REGIMENT OHIO VOLUNTEER INFANTRY. 



ROSTER, THREE YEARS' SERVICE. 



Colonel . . 

Do. .. 
Lt.-C ol... 

Do. .. 
Major .. 

Do. .. 

Do. . . 
aureeon.. 
Ash t Sur. 
Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 
Chaplain . 
Captain .. 

bo. .. 

Do. .. 

Do. . . 

I)u .. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD 
LIONEL A SHELDON 
Lionel A. Sheldon.... 

Don a. PAkDEK 

Don a. Paroee 

Fred. A. Williams.... 

Wm. H. Williams 

Joel Pomekenh 

Joseph W. Harmon 

J. N. Miner 

Joseph Kalb 

John W. Driscoll 

H. E. Warner 

Jefferson H. Jones 

T. C. Bushnell 

V\'m. H Williams 

("lias. H Howe 

James H Riggs 

' ii,i-> P Jewell 



date of 

RANK. 



Aug. 

Mar. 

Sept. 

Mar. 

Sept. 

Mar. 

July 

Sept. 

Oct. 

Aug. 

Mar. 

Nov. 

Aug. 

."^ept. 



14, 1861 
14, 1863 

6, 1861 
14, 1862 

5, 1861 

14, 1 86-.! 

'5. " 

7, 1861 

3. '■ 
26, 1S63 
TO, iS6j 
21, " 
10, " 
21, 1S61 
»7, " 

3. " 

15. " 
»7. " 
«9, " 



COM. 


ISSUED. 


Dec. 


14, 


i86i 


Mar. 


28, 


1862 


Dec. 


14, 


1861 


.Mar. 


28, 


1*62 


Dec. 


'4, 


1861 


Mar. 


28, 


T862 


Oct 


6, 


" 


Dec. 


14, 

'4. 


186 1 


Aug 


27, 


1862 


.Mar. 


•0. 


1863 


Nov 


10, 


it 


l>ec. 


'4. 


1861 


Mar. 


6, 
6, 
6, 
6. 
6, 


1862 



RE.MARKS. 



Appointed Rrig. -Gen. Volt. 
Mustered out. 
Promoted to Colonel. 
Must'd out Oct. 26, 1864. 
Promoted to Lieut. -Col. 
Died July 35, 186a. 
Mustered out. 
Resigned July 26, 1863. 
Resit;ne(i Nov. 9, 1862. 
Died Dec. 13, 186a. 
Resigned Auif. 37, 1864. 
Resigned July 1, 1S63. 
M ustered out. 
Resigned April 18, 1S63. 
Resigned Oct. aa, i86a. 
ProMiM to Major July 25.1801 
Resigned .May 27, :8i3. 
Rcsiiliied Dec. ^i. i.Sf'13. 
Resigned Jiilr 11, 1.S63. 



62 



JAilES A. GARFIELD. 



RANK. 


NA.MK. 


DATE OF 
RANK. 


COM. ISSUED. 


REMARKS. 


Captain.. 
Do. .. 


Frederick A. VVilliams. 


Sept. 20, 1861 


Mar. 6, 1862 


Promoted to Major. 


Andrew Gardner, jr. . . 


'■ s8, '• 


6, " 


Resigned Jan. 26, 1S63. 


Do. .. 


Seth M. Barber 


Nov. 2, " 


" 6, •' 


Honorably dis'd Mar. 6, 1864 


Do. .. 


Horace H. WiUard 


" 18, '• 


6, " 


Honorably dis'd Jan. 3, 1864. 


Do. .. 


Rollin B. Lynch 


" 26, " 


" 6, " 


Resigned March 3, 1863. 


Do. .. 


Wm. N.Starr 


Mar. 14, " 


Apr. 14, " 


Revoked. 


Do. .. 


Wm. \V. Olds 


" 14, " 


" '4, " 


Killed May i, 1863. 


Do. .. 


Horace Pettier 


July 25, " 
Oct. 22, " 
Mar. 3, " 


Oct. 6, " 
Nov. 17, " 
Apr. 22, 1863 


Mustered out Sept. 30, 1865. 


Do. .. 


Wm. N'. Starr 


Mustered out Sept. 30, 1865. 
Mustered out. 


Do. .. 


Melvin H. Benham 


Do. .. 


Thomas L. Hutchins... 


Jan. 28, 1863 


" 9. " 


Mustered out. 


Do. .. 


Edward B. CampbelL. 


May 27, " 


June 26, " 


Tranferred to and mustered 
out with 96th 0. V. I. 


Do. .. 


J. S. Ross 


11 it 


" 10, " 


Mustered out Sept. 30, 1864. 


Do. .. 


Porters. Foskett 


July II, " 


" 10, " 


Honorably dis'd Apr. 30, 1864. 


Do. .. 


David N. Prince 


Jan. 1,1864 


Jan. 29, 1864 


.Mustered'out. 


Do. .. 


John B. Helm.^n 


May 9, " 


May 9, " 


Must- red out^ 


Do. .. 


Georjje K. Pardee 


" 35, " 


" 25, " 


Resigned Sepl. 24, 1864. 


Do. .. 


Alviri y. Dyer 


July 25, " 


July 25, " 


Mustered out. 


ist Lieut. 


Wm. W. Olds 


Aug. 14, 1861 


Aug. 30. 1861 


Promoted to Captain. 


Do. .. 


Joseph D. Stubbs 


" 16, " 


Dec. 14, " 


App. A. Q. M. of vols.; mus- 
tered out Nov. 13. 1863. 


Do. .. 


Wm. N. Starr 


" 31, " 


" M, " 


Promoted to Captain. 


Do. .. 


Horace Potter 


Sept. 3, " 
" 15. " 


" 14. " 


Promoted to Captain. 


Do. .. 


George F. Brady 


" 14. " 


Resigned March 37, 1S62. 


Do. .. 


Herman SuEebedissen. . 


" 17. " 


" 14, " 


Resigned April 3, 1862. 


Do. .. 


David Scott 


" 17. " 
" 20, " 


" «4, " 

" 14, '• 


Resigned Jan. 31, 1S62. 
Resigned Feb. 8, 1862. 


Do. .. 


Howards. Bates 


Do. .. 


Thomas L. Hutchins... 


" 28, " 


" 14, " 


Promoted to Captain. 


Do. .. 


Orlando C". Risdon 


Oct. 7, " 


" 14, " 


Transferred to colored reg't. 


Do. .. 


Wm. S. Spencer 


Nov. 9, " 


" >4, " 


Resigned June 11, 1862. 


Do. .. 


Timiiihy G. Loomis... 


" .2, " 


" 14, " 


Resigned June 5, 1862. 


Do. .. 


Marion Knij^ht 


Feb. 2S, 1862 
Mar. 17, " 


Feb. 28,1862 
Mar. 17, " 


Resigned June 6, 1863. 


Do. .. 


Edwin D. Saunders... . 


Promoted to regular army. 


Do. .. 


John R. Helman 


" M. " 


Apr. 14, " 


Revoked. 


Do. .. 


.Melvin H. Benham 


" 27, " 


" 14, " 


Promoted to Captain. 


Do. .. 


Wm. H. Clapp 


" 14, " 


.May 5, ;; 


.\pp. Cap. A. A. G.May 15, 'fti 


Do. .. 


Edward B. Campbell.. 


June 6, " 


June 24, " 


Promoted to Captain. 


Do. .. 


David N. Prince 


" 5, " 


Oct. 6, " 


Promoted to Captain. 


Do. .. 


John B. Helman 


" .., " 


" 24, " 


Promoted to Captain. 


Do. .. 


J. S. Ross 


July 25, " 
" 25, " 


6, " 


Promoted to Captain. 
Promoted to Capiain. 


Do. .. 


Porter S. Foskett 


" 6, " 


Do. .. 


Charles B. Howk 


Oct. 22, " 


Nov. 17, " 


Resigned Oct. 23, 1863. 


Do. .. 


Alvin J. Dyer 


Nov. 13, " 


Dec. 31, " 


Promoted to Captain. 


Do. .. 


George K. Pardee 


Jan. «8,iS63 


.■\pr. 0,1863 


Promoted to Captain. 


Do. .. 


Charles P. Goodwin... 


Mar. 3, " 


" 22, " 


Resigned Aug. 5, 1863. 


Do. .. 


James T. Henry 


May 27, " 


June 26, " 


Resigned June 29, 1864. 


Do. .. 


Charles R. Henry 


" I, " 


" ,0, " 


Mustered out. 


Do. .. 


Wm. L. Wilson 


" 28, " 


" 'o, " 


Resigned Sept. 24, 1864. 


Do. .. 


Henry C. Jennings 


Dec. 16, " 


Jan. 28, " 


Resigned as 2d Lieut. 


Do. .. 


Albert L. Bowman.... 


July II, " 


Aug. 10, " 


Mustered out. 


Do. .. 


Joseph D. Moodv 


Feb. 26, 1S64 


Feb. 26, 1864 


Mustered out. 


Do. .. 


Augustus B. Huhbell.. 


" 26, " 


" 26, " 


Mustered out. 


Do. .. 


JohnF. Fl\'nn 


" 26, " 
Oct. 23, 1863 
May 9, 1864 


" 26, " 
Dec. 31, 1863 
May 0, 1864 


Mustered out. 


Do. .. 


Peter Miller 


Mustered out. 


Do. .. 


Henry A. Howard 


Mustered out Sept. 30, 18O4 


Do. .. 


-Matthew Rodecker.... 


" 9, " 


" 9. " 


Resigned tiept. 24, 1864. 


Do. .. 


Calvin Pierce 


July 2;. " 


" 25, " 
July 25, " 


Mustered out. 


Do. .. 


Horace S. Clark 


Mustered out. 


Do. .. 


[.ester K. Lewis. 


.. 2;, " 


" 25, " 


Mustered out. 


id Lieut. 


JohnR. Helman 


Sept. 4, 1861 


Dec. 14, 1861 


Prom, to ist Lt. June 11. i86» 


Do. .. 


Wm. L. Wilson 


" 17. " 


" 14. '■ 


Promoted to ist Lieut. 


Do. .. 


.Andrew J. .Stone 


" 19. " 


" 14, " 


Died. 


Do. .. 


Wm. H. Clapp 


" 20, " 


" 14, " 


Promoted to ist Lient. 


Do. .. 


Joseph Lackev 


" 32. " 

Oct. 4, " 


" 14, " 
" 14, " 


Resigned July 5, i86a. 


Do. .. 


Horace H. Willard.... 


Promoted to ist Lieut. 


Do. .. 


Samuel H.Cole 


- 5. " 


" 14, " 


Resigned May 9, »862. 



BECOMES A CIUG ADIEU-GENERAL. 



63 



j(l Lieut. 
Do. 

IJO. 

Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. .. 



Melvin H. F^enhain 

Edwin C. Leach 

Porter H. Foskett 

Marion Knight 

Wm. L. Steward 

Edward B. Campbell.. 

Henry C. Jenning's 

Charles P.Goodwin... 

J. S. Ross 

lolin F. Robinson 

Peter Miller 

Calvin C. Marquis.... 

Charles K. Henrv 

Charles H. Howk 

J^;mes T. Henry 

James S. Bowlby 

Georg-e K. P.<rdee 

Joseph D. Moody 

Augustus R. Hvibbell.. 

Albert L. Bowman 

Henry Howard 

Jolin Flynn 

Matthew Rodecker 

Calvin Pierce 

Horace S. Clark 



DATK OF 
RANK. 



Oct. 
Nov. 



Feb. 
.Mar. 



10. 1861 

J2, " 

36. " 

28. 1862 
20, ' 



COM. ISSUED. 



Dec. 



Mar. 



14, 1861 
14, ' 
'4, ' 
•4, ' 
20, 1862 
20, ' 



REMAKKS. 



9. 




Apr. 14, 




»7, 




" 14. 




r " '*• 




May 7, 




June 6, 




June 24, 




July 5. 


V t 


Sept. 8, 


«l 


" 2S. 


'^ 


Oct. 6, 


ii 


" 2 = . 


i ( 


" 6, 


** 


June II, 
" II. 


,. 


" 6, 
" 6, 




" 5. 


^* 


" 6, 


»* 


Oct. 32, 


i< 


Nov. 17, 


^^ 


July 25, 


if 


" 17. 


ki 


Nov. 13, 


*^ 


Dec. 24, 


*' 


Jan. 28, 


iS6s 


Apr. 2, 


i86s 


Mar. 3, 


" 


" 22, 


*•■ 


.Apr. I, 


.* 


Jiilv 20, 


i» 


May I, 


*. 


June 10, 


ik 


" 28, 


k( 


10, 




" 25. 


1864 


May 25, 


1864 



Promoted to ist Lieut. 
Resigned June 5, 1862. 
Promoted to ist Lieut. 
Promoted to ist Lieut. 
Resigned Nov. 13, 1S62. 
Promoted to ist Lieut. 
Resigned. 

Promoted to ist Lieut. 
Promoted to ist Lieut. 
Transferred to colored reg't. 
Promoted to ist Lieut. 
Declined. 

Promoted to ist Lieut. 
Promoted to ist Lieut. 
Promoted to ist Lieut. 
Resigned Jan. 9, 1S64. 
Promoted to 1st Lieut. 
Promoted to ist Lieut. 
Promoted to ist Lieut. 
Promoted to ist Lieut. 
Promoted to ist Lieut. 
Promoted to ist Lieut. 
Promoted to f^t Lieut. 
Promoted to ist Lieut. 
Promoted to ist Lieut. 



" The Forty-second Ohio was organized at Camp 
Chase, near Columbus, Ohio. Companies A, B, C, and 
D were mustered into the service September 25, 1861; 
company E, October 30th ; company F, November 12th ; 
and companies G, II, I, and K, November 26th, at which 
time the organization was completed. 

" On the 14tli of December orders w^ere received to 
take the field, and on the following day it moved by rail- 
road to Cincinnati, and thence by steamer up the Ohio 
River to Catlettsburg, Kentucky, where it arrived the 
morning of December 17th. The regiment, together 
with the Fourteenth Kentucky Infantry and McLaugli- 
lin's squadron of Ohio cavalry, proceeded to Louisa, Ken- 
tucky, and moved forward to Green Creek. The whole 
command advanced December 31st, and by the night of 
Jiiniiary 7, 1862, encamped within three miles of Paints- 
ville, and the next morning five companies, under com- 



64 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

mand of Lieutenant-Colonel Sheldon, took possession of 
the village. On the evening of the same day Garfield 
took the Forty-second and two companies of the Foui- 
teenth Kentucky, and advanced against Marshall's for- 
tified position, about three miles south of the village of 
Paintsville. The infantry reached the works about nine 
o'clock p. M., found them evacuated, and everything valu- 
able either carried away or destroyed ; an^ after an all- 
night march, returned to Paintsville a little after daylight. 
"About noon on the 9th, Colonel Garfield, with 
eleven hundred infantry from the Forty-second Ohio and 
other regiments, and about six hundred cavalry, started 
in pursuit of Marshall, and about nine o'clock in the even- 
ing the advance was fired upon by Marsluill's pickets, 
on the summit of Abbott's Hill. Garfield took posses- 
sion of the hill, bivouacked for the night, and the next 
morning continued the pursuit, overtaking' the enemy 
at the forks of Middle Creek, three miles south-west of 
Prestonburuh. Marshall's force consisted of about three 
thousand five hundred men, infantry and cavalry, with 
three pieces of artillery. Major Pardee, with four hun- 
dred men, was sent across Middle Creek to attack Mar- 
shall directly in front, and Lieutenant-Colonel Monroe 
(Twenty-second Kentucky) was directed to attack ou 
Marshall's right flank. The light at once opened with 
considerable spirit, and Pardee and Monroe became hotly 
engaged with a force four times as large as their uwii. 
'J'hey hehl their ground with great obstinacy and bra\'ery 
until re-enforcements reuched the field, when the eneiiiy 
commenced to fall back. The national forces slej't upon 
their arms, and at early dawn a reconuttissauce disclosed 




WILLIAM M. HUNT, PEES. GARFIELD'S SECRETARY OF THE NAVY 




'*il'!i,alli 



ii-,ialJii^ 






BECOMES A BRIGADIER-GENERAL. 65 

the fact that Marshall had burned his stores and had fled, 
leaving a portion of his dead upon the field. 

" On the 11th the command took possession of Pres- 
tonhurgh, Kentucky, and on the 12th returned to Paints- 
ville, and went into camp until the first of February, 
when the force moved by boats up the Big Sandy to 
Pikeville. On the 14th of March the regiment, with 
other troops, took possession of Pound Gap and de- 
stroyed the enemy's camp and stores. The regiment was 
engaged in several other expeditions against the gue- 
rillas. The arduous nature of the campaign, the exceed- 
ingly disagreeable weather, and the want of supplies, 
were disastrous to the health of the troops, and some 
eighty-five of the Forty-second died of disease. 

" On the 18th of March the regiment received orders 
to proceed to Louisville, where it arrived and went into 
camp on the 29th. The Forty-second was attached to 
Brigadier-General George W. Morgan's command, and 
moved by rail to Lexington, Kentucky, and from there 
marched to Cumberland Ford, with three hundred and 
fourteen men for duty. At Cumberland Ford the regi- 
ment was brigaded with the Sixteenth Ohio, the Four- 
teenth and Twenty-second Kentucky, Colonel John F, 
De Courcey (Sixteenth Ohio) commanding. On the 
15th of May the brigade crossed the Cumberland River 
and encamped at the junction of the roads leading to 
Cumberland Gap and Rogers' Gap. On the 5th of June 
Morgan's entire command took up the line of march to 
cross the mountains into the rear of Cumberland Gap. 
Moving by way of Rogers' Gap into Powell's Valley, 
'^e advance was unopposed until it reached Rogers' 

5 



66 JAMES A. GARFIhLD. 

G([^ When a series of skiriniihes ensued, nearly all of 
them between the Forty-second and the enemy. At one 
o'clock A. M., June 18th, Morgan moved against a force 
at Big Spring, the Forty-second leading ; but the enemy 
(led, and Morgan moved toward Cumberland Gap, reach- 
ing it at five p. M., and found it had been evacuated a 
few hours before. The Forty-second at once moved into 
the Gap, and was the first regiment to plant its flag on 
this stronghold. The regiment camped on the extreme 
right, near Yellow Creek, performing heavy picket duty, 
and being frequently on expeditions. It skirmished at 
Baptist's Gap, at Tazewell, and on the 5th of August en- 
gaged and held back the advance of the army with which 
Kirby Smith invaded Kentucky. 

" On the morning of the 6th a heavy force attacked 
the brigade two miles beyond Tazewell, and it fell back 
leisurely to Cumberland Gap. Company E, of the Forty 
second, escorted a forage train, and was nearly sur- 
rounded, but by shrewdness and gallantry it saved the 
train and escaped without loss. The Gap was finall}' 
evacuated, and the forces fell back through Manchester, 
crossed the Kentucky River at Proctor, and crossed the 
Ohio at Greenupsburg. The regiment acted as rear 
guard during the march. When the Forty-second left 
the Gap it numbered seven hundred and fifty men, and 
while on the march there were issued to it two hundred 
and seventy-five pounds of flour, four hundred pounds of 
bacon, and two rations of fresh pork ; the rest of the food 
consisted of corn, grated down on tin plates and cooked 
upon them. The distance marched was two hundred and 
fifty miles; the weather was very dry, and the men suf 



BECOMES A BPJGADIER-GENERAL. 6V 

fered for water. They were without shoes, and their 
clothing was ragged and filthy. The Forty-second lost 
but one man on the retrent from nil causes, and it was 
the only regiment that brought throngh its knapsack^ 
;md bhtnkets. These proved of great service, as the men 
were compelled to camp at Portland, Jackson County, 
Ohio, two weeks before clothin-j-, camp, and garrison equi- 
page could be furnished them. 

"On tlie 2 1st of October the regiment proceeded to 
Gallipolis, and thence up the Kanawha to Charlestown, 
Virginia. It returned to the Ohio, November 10th, and 
embarked for Cincinnati, and moved from there down to 
Memphis, encamping near the city on the 28th. While 
at Portland, Ohio, the regiment received one hundred 
and three recruits, and at Memphis it received sixty-fi^'e 
more. It had from time to time obtained a few, so that 
the whole number reached two hundred or more, and the 
regiment could turn out on parade nearly nine hundred 
men. General Morgan's division was reorganized, and 
was denominated the Ninth Division, Thirteenth Army 
Corps. 

" On the 20th of December, the Forty-second, with 
other troops, under General W. T. Sherman, embarked 
at Memphis, and proceeding down the river, landed 
at Johnston's plantation on the Yazoo. The Forty- 
second led the advance asrainst the defenses of Vicks- 
burg on the 27th of December, and skirmished with the 
enemy until dark. The next morning the regiment re- 
sumed the attack against the enemy thrown out beyond 
their works, and protected in front 'by timber and lagoon. 
The regiment continued to advance, without driving th<} 



gg JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

enemy, until Colonel Pardee ordered a charge, which was 
made with great spirit, and resulted in gaining possession 
of the woods and driving the rebels into their works. 
\bout nine o'clock A. M. on the 29th, a charge was made, 
the Forty-second being on the extreme right of the 
nssaulting column. The storm of shot and shell was ter- 
rific but the regiment maintained its organization, and 
came off the field in good order. During the remainder 
of the engagement the regiment held its position m hne. 
The army finally retired, re-embarked, and moved to 

Milliken's Bend. 

"On the 4th of January, 1863, the fleet steamed up 
the river to White River, and up it through a " cut-off" 
into the Arkansas, and up it to Arkansas Post, where the 
troops disembarked and invested Fort Hindman, De 
Courcey's brigade being held in reserve. After four 
hours of severe cannonading the infantry advanced, and, 
several unsuccessful charges having been ma<le, De Cour- 
cey's brigade was ordered to join Sheldon's brigade m 
assaulting Fort Hindman. The Forty-second led the 
advance, and, soon after getting fairly under fire, the 
enemy surrendered. Seven thousand prisoners, all the 
guns and small arms, and a large quantity of stores were 

captured. j j j-i, 

« In a few days the troops re-embarked, and on the 
24th of January landed at Young's Point. Here the 
Forty-second was allotted its proportion of the work on 
the canal, and was allowed four days to perform it ; but 
so vigorous was the regiment in the discharge of its duties, 
that it accomplished its work in seventeen hours. On the 
10th of March the division moved to Milliken's Bend, 




J. KIRKWOOD, PRES. GARFIELD'S SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR. 



BECOMES A BRIGADIER-GENERAL. 69 

where it was soon joined by the remainder of the corps. 
Here supplies were received, and four weeks were spent 
ill drilling and fitting for the coming campaign. 

" The Ninth Division took the advance in the move- 
ment toward the rear of Vicksburg. The troops moved 
to Richmond, Madison Parish, Louisiana, and embarked 
about thirty miles below Vicksburg, on transports which 
had run the batteries, and moved down to Grand Gulf 
Here they debarked, crossed the point, again took trans- 
ports, moved down to Bruiusburg, and debarked on the 
Mississippi side of the river. The division advanced 
against Port Gibson, and at twelve o'clock at night had 
a slight engagement with the enemy. The whole corps 
moved up and bivouacked near Magnolia Church. At 
daybreak the troops were under arms and advancing. 
The Ninth Division, taking the left of the line, speedily 
engaged the enemy, and continued in action until four 
o'clock p. M. The Forty-second was placed under a 
heavy fire of artillery at seven o'clock A. m., and con- 
tiued there until nine o'clock a. m., when it was advanced 
to the centre of the division line and ordered to charge. 
The order was obeyed with spirit and courage, but, meet- 
ing with unexpected obstacles, the division commander 
ordered it to retire. It continued skirmishing until 
twelve o'clock, when it joined the Sixteenth Ohio and 
Twenty-second Kentucky, and charged a strong position 
held by the rebels, but, after a brave effort, Mled to 
dislodge them, and was again ordered to retire. It was 
moved to the right, and about three o'clock p. m. maue a 
third charge, and in conjunction with the Forty-ninth 
Indiana and One Hundred and Fourteenth Ohio, carried 



70 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

he enemy's position. In this engagement the regiment 
sustained a heavier loss than any other one in the corps. 

" On the 2d of May the corps advanced and took 
possession of Port Gibson, and moved on by way of 
Champion Hills and Big Black Bridge to the rear of 
Vicksburg. The regiment was engaged both at Cham- 
pion Hills and Big Black, but the loss was comparatively 
slight. It participated in the charges on the works at 
Vicksburg on the 19th and 22d of May, the Ninth Divis- 
ion holding an advanced position in the Thirteenth Corps. 
In these assaults the regiment lost heavily, especially on 
the 22d. On the 10th of June the Forty-second was 
moved toward the right in support of some batteries, 
where it remained until June 27th, when it moved to Big 
Black Bridge. After the surrender of Vicksburg the 
regiment marched to Jackson and participated in the 
reduction of that place, and then returned to Vicksburg, 
>vhere it remained until ordered to the Department of 
the Gulf. 

" The regiment arrived at Carrollton, near New Or- 
leans, August 15th, and on the 6th of September started 
on the Western Louisiana campaign. At Brashear city 
the Ninth and Twelfth Divisions of the Thirteenth Corps 
were consolidated, and Brigadier-General Lawler was 
assigned to the command of the brigade. The brigade 
moved up to Vermilion Bayou, and from there to Ope- 
lousas, where it remained a few days, and returned with 
t'le corps to Berwick Bay. On the 18th of November 
the brigade crossed to Brashear city, with the intention 
of going into Texas, but the following night it was ordered 
to Thibodeaux, and proceeded thence by way of Donald- 



BECOMES A BRIGADIER-GENERAL. 71 

jfmville to Plaquernine, arriving November 21st. The 
regiment remained here during the winter, and on the 
21th of March, 1864, moved to Baton Rouge, and was 
detailed as provost-guard for the city. On the 1st of 
May the Forty-second, with other troops, marched on an 
expedition toward Clinton, Louisiana, engaged an equal 
force of the enemy for seven hours, and at last drove the 
rebels five miles through canebrakes and over the Comite 
River. On this expedition the infantry marched fifty- 
four miles in eighteen hours. The regiment embarked on 
boats, May 16th, and reported to General Canby at the 
mouth of Red River, and moved up to Simmsport, on 
the Atchafilaya River, where a provisional brigade was 
formed, comprising the Seventh Kentucky, Twenty 
second and Twenty-third Iowa, Thirty-seventh Illinois, 
and Forty-second Ohio, Colonel Sheldon commanding. 
Meeting General Banks' army here, the regiment 
marched to Morganza, Louisiana, with it. The regiment 
was on several expeditions and in one slight skirmish. 
Here the Forty-second was attached to the First Brigade, 
Third Division, Nineteenth Corps. Here, also, a test- 
drill was held in the Nineteenth Corps, and company E 
of the Forty-second Ohio, won the first prize. 

" The brigade moved up the Mississippi, July 15th, 
and landed at the mouth of White River. While lying 
here a detachment of the regiment crossed into Mississippi, 
marched fifteen miles, captured two small parties of rebels, 
I ad returned within ten hours. The brigade moved up 
to St. Charles, on White River, and after working ten 
dijys on the fortifications, made an expedition of some 
sixty miles into the country. On the 6th of August the 



72 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

brigade returned to Morganza, and on the 6th of SepteiM 
ber moved to the mouth of White River again. Com- 
panies A, B, C, and D were ordered to Camp Chase, 
Ohio, September 15th, and were mustered out September 
oOth. The remaining six companies were ordered to 
Duvall's Bluff, Arkansas. Companies E and F were 
mustered out November 25th, and the other ibur com- 
panies were mustered out December 2, 1864. One 
hundred and one men remained, whose term of service 
had not expired, and they were organized into a com- 
pany and assigned to the Ninety-sixth Ohio. 

*' The regiment bears upon its banners the names of 
eleven battles, in which it lost one officer and twenty 
men killed, and eighteen officers and three hundred and 
twentj'-five men wounded." 

On the 14,:h of December the Forty-second Ohio re- 
ceived orders to take the field. The regiment was or- 
dered to Catlettsburg, Kentucky, and Colonel Garfield 
was directed to report in person to General Buell, of 
whose army his command was to form a part. He did so 
promptly, and was cordially received by General Buell, 
who, though holding opinions diametrically opposed to 
those of Colonel Garfield, was a true soldier, and at once 
recognized that his young subordinate was made of the 
right kind of material. 

On the 17th of December, Garfield was assigned by 
General Buell to the command of the Seventeenth Bri- 
gade, which consisted of the Fortieth and Forty-second 
Ohio, the Fourteenth and Twenty-second Kentucky In- 
fantry, six companies of the First Kentucky Cavalry, 
and two companies of McLaughlin's Ohio Cavalry. 




GENERAL JAMES A. GARETELP 




THE CATAFALQUE AT CLEVELAND, OHIO- 



BECOMES A BRIGADIER-GENERAL. 73 

The first duty to which Colonel Garfield was ordered, 
was the task of driving Humphrey Marshall's confederate 
forces out of the Sandy Valley in Eastern Kentucky. Up 
to this time the interest of the war had been confined 
mainly to the country east of the Alleghanies, and but 
little had been attempted in the Ohio Valley. The prin- 
cipal engagement, that of Belmont, had been unsuccess- 
ful, and even in the east the disasters at Bull Run and 
Ball's Bluff had spread a gloom over the loyal States. 
General Buell was collecting a strong force in Kentucky, 
for the purpose of advancing upon the Confederate posi- 
tion at Bowling Green, but his movements were ham- 
pered by the presence of two co-operating forces skilfully 
planted on their striking distance of his flank. These 
were the command of General ZoUicoffer, who was mov- 
ing from Cumberland Gap toward Mill Spring, and the 
forces of General Humphrey Marshall, who was leisurely 
moving down the Sandy Valley and threatening to over- 
run Eastern Kentucky. These forces were a serious 
menace to General Buell, and until they could be driven 
back an advance upon Bowling Green would be hazard- 
ous in the extreme, if not impossible. Brigadier-General 
George H. Thomas was ordered to drive ZoUicoffer back, 
and Colonel Garfield was directed to force Marshall out 
of Kentucky. The fate of the whole campaign depended 
upon the success of these movements. 

Some persons were inclined to think that the choice 
of Garfield for this delicate and important service was 
rash. He had never seen a gun fired in battle, or exer- 
cised the command of troops save on parade, or in camp, 
or on the march. But he now found himself at the head 



74 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

of four regiments of infantry and eight companies of cav- 
alry, and was sent upon a service the success or failure of 
which would aid or defeat the entire plan of campaign on 
the part of General Buell. Opposed to him was one of 
the most trusted and accomplished of the Southern com- 
manders, and a veteran who had won high distinction as 
the colonel of the heroic Kentucky regiment at Buena 
Vista, in the war with Mexico. He had under him 
nearly five thousand men, with artillery and cavalry, and 
was strongly posted at the village of Pahitsville, sixty 
miles up the Sandy Valley. Marshall was ordered by 
the Confederate Government to advance to Lexington, 
unite there with Zollicoffer, and establish the authority 
of the Confederacy over Kentucky. It did indeed seem 
that Garfield was overmatched ; but Buell had measured 
his man, and was satisfied that if success could be won, 
the young Ohio colonel would win it; and he was content 
to await the issue. 

Upon receipt of his orders, Colonel Garfield at once 
joined the bulk of his brigade which was stationed at tlie 
mouth of the Big Sandy Hiver. He at once broke up 
camp, and advanced up the valley, sending orders to the 
rest of his forces at Paris, to move across the country 
and join him a short distance below Paintsville. The 
force with which he began the movement up the valley 
was about twenty-two hundred strong. 

Marshall was promptly informed of Garfield's move- 
iiients by the Southern sympathizers of the valley. He 
left a small force of cavalry to hold his old position, to 
act as an escort and protect his trains, and with the rest 
of his forces fell back to a stronger position near Preston- 



BECOMES A BRIGADIER-GENERAL. * 75 

')urgb, where he awaited attack. On the 7th of January, 
1862, while pressing his advance up the valley, Colonel 
Garfield was informed of the position of Marshall's cav- 
alry, and at once sent a detachment of his own mounted 
men to attack it, while with the rest of his command he 
pushed on to make a reconnoissance in force of the posi- 
tion he still supposed Marshall's main body to occupy. 
To his surprise he found the Confederate forces had 
retreated. Being anxious to capture the cavalry left 
behind by Marshall, he sent orders to the officer com- 
manding the troops he had dispatched to attack it, direct 
ing him not to bring on the action until the main body 
had seized the Confederate line of retreat. The courier 
who bore this order was detained, and the Union cavalry 
in the meantime attacked the Confederate cavalry and 
drove it back in confusion after a short but sharp en- 
counter. In the meantime Garfield pushed on with 
speed towards the road by which the Confederates must 
retreat. Upon reaching it, he found it strewn with over- 
coats, blankets, arms, and cavalry equipments, which 
showed that the Union attack had been successfully 
made, and that the Confederates had already retreated 
over the road, and in great confusion. He at once threw 
forward the cavalry with him in hot pursuit, and con- 
tinued the chase until the outposts of Marshall's new 
position were reached. A brief reconnoissance was 
made, and then Colonel Garfield drew back his whole 
ibrce, and encamped at Paintsville. The next morning 
lie was joined by the detachment that had marched over- 
land from Paris. This brought his whole force to about 
Uiree thousand four hundred men, but he was without 



"^li 



76 ■ JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

artillery. The troops remained in camp throughout tlie 
8th, waiting for rations, which were obtained with the 
greatest difficulty. 

On the 9th of January, Colonel Garfield advanced 
upon Marshall's new position near Prestonburgh. He was 
obliged to leave about one thousand of his men at Paints- 
ville to secure rations for them, but with the rest of his 
force he made a vigorous attempt to develop the enemy's 
position, and by nightfall had driven in the Southern 
pickets and completed his dispositions for an attack. He 
now ordered up the rest of his command from Paintsville, 
and prepared to open the attack the next morning. 
That night the troops bivouacked on their arms, and in 
^the midst of a heavy rain. 

By four o'clock on the morning of January 10, 1862, 
the Union forces were in motion. Marshall was believed 
to be stationed on Abbott's Creek. Garfield's plan, there- 
fore, was to get over upon Middle Creek, and so plant 
himself in the enemy's rear. But in fact, Marshall's 
force was upon the heights of Middle Creek itself, only 
two miles west of Prestonburgh. So, when Garfield, 
advancing cautiously westward up the Creek, had con- 
sumed some hours in these movements, he came upon a 
semicircular hill, scarcely one thousand yards in front 
of which was Marshall's position, between the forks of 
the Creek. The expected re-enforcements from Paints- 
ville had not arrived ; and conscious of his comparative 
weakness, Colonel Garfield determined first to develop 
the enemy's position more carefully. A small body of 
picked men sent dashing up the road, drew a fire from 
both the head of the gorge through which the road led, 



BECOMES A BRIGADIER-GENERAL. 77 

and from the heights on its left. Two columns were 
then moved forward, one on either side of the creek, and 
the rebels speedily opened upon them with musketry 
find artillery. The fight became somewhat severe at 
times, but was, on the whole, desultory. Garfield re-en- 
forced both his columns, but the action soon developed 
itself mainly on the left, where Marshall speedily con- 
centrated his whole force. Meantime Garfield's reserve 
was now also under fire from the commanding position 
held by the enemy's artillery. He was entirely without 
artillery to reply ; but the men stationed themselves be- 
hind trees and rocks, and kept up a brisk though irregu- 
lar fusillade. 

"At last, about four o'clock in the afternoon, the re- 
enforcements from Paintsville arrived. As we now know, 
these still left Marshall's strength superior to his young 
assailant, but the troops looked upon their opportune ar- 
rival as settling the contest. Unbounded enthusiasm Avas 
aroused, and the approaching column was received with 
prolonged cheering. Garfield now promptly formed his 
whole reserve for attacking the enemy's right, and carry- 
ing his guns. The troops were moving rapidly up in the 
fast gathering darkness, when Marshall hastily abandoned 
his position, fired his camp equipages and stores, and be- 
gan a retreat that was not ended until he had reached 
Abingdon, Virginia. Night checked the pursuit. Next 
day it was continued for some distance, and some pris- 
oners were taken, but a farther advance in that direction 
was quite impossible without more transportation, and in- 
deed would have been foreign to the purpose for which 
General Buell had ordered the expedition." 



78 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

This brilliant success was won by the Union forces 
with the loss of but one man killed and seven wounded. 
Two of these were members of Colonel Grariield's own 
regiment, and died of their wounds short-ly after tho 
action. Thus was the first campaign of the young Ohio 
colonel a handsome success. Speaking of the battle of 
Middle Creek, sometime afterwards when he had learned 
more of war, Garfield modestly said, " It was a very 
rash and imprudent affair on my part. If I had been 
an officer of more experience, I probably should not have 
made the attack. As it was, having gone into the army 
with the notion that fighting was our business, I did not 
know any better." Captain F. H. Manton, in his his- 
tory of the Forty-second Ohio Regiment, furnishes us 
with a juster view of this battle than the modesty of the 
Union commander allowed him to indulge in. He says : 

" The battle of Middle Creek, skirmish though it may 
be considered in comparison with later contests, was the 
first substantial victory won for the Union cause. At 
Big Bethel, Bull Run, in Missouri, and at various points 
at which the Union and Confederate forces had come in 
contact, the latter had been uniformly victorious. The 
people of the North, giving freely of their men and theii 
substance in response to each successive call of the Gov- 
ernment had long and anxiously watched and waited for 
a little gleam of victory to show that Northern valor was 
a match for Southern impetuosity in the field. They 
bad waited in vain since the disaster at Bull Run durins: 
the previous summer, and hope had almost yielded to 
despair. The story of Garfield's success at Middle Creek 
came, therefore, like a benediction to the Union cause. 



BECOMES A BRIGADIER-GENERAL. 79 

Though won at trifling cost it was decisive so far as con- 
kernel the purposes of that immediate campaign. Mar- 
shall's force was driven from Kentucky and made no fur- 
ther attempt to occupy the Sandy Valley. The impov 
tant victories at Mill Spring, Forts Donelson and Henry, 
and the repulse at Shiloh followed. The victory al 
Middle Creek proved the first wave of a returning tide." 

" But though they had defeated the enemy, a very 
serious peril threatened the Union forces. An unusually 
violent storm broke out. The mountain gorges were all 
flooded, and the Sandy rose to such a height that steam- 
boatmen pronounced it impossible to ascend the stream 
with supplies. The troops were almost out of rations 
and the rough mountainous country was incapable of sup- 
porting them. Colonel Garfield had gone down the river 
to its mouth. He ordered the " Sandy Valley," a small 
steamer, which had been in the quartermaster's service, 
to take on a load of supplies and start up. The cap- 
tain declared it was impossible, Efforts were made to 
get other vessels, but without success. 

" Finally, Colonel Garfield ordered the captain and 
crew on board, stationed a competent army officer on 
deck to see that the captain did his duty, and himself 
took the wheel. The captain protested that no boat 
could possibly stem the raging current, but Garfield 
turned her head up the stream and began the perilous 
trip. The water in the usually shallow river was sixty 
feet deep, and the tree-tops along the banks were almost 
submerged. The little vessel trembled from stem to stern 
at every motion of the engines ; the waters whirled her 
about as if she were a skiff; and the utmost speed that 



80 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

steam could give her was three miles an hour. When 
night fell the captain of the boat begged permission t(. 
tie up. To attempt ascending that flood in the dark he 
declared was madness. But Colonel Garfield kept hi& 
place at the wheel. Finally, in one of the sudden bends 
of the river, they drove, with a full head of steam, into 
the quicksand of the bank. Every effort to back off was 
in vain Mattocks were procured and excavations wei * 
made around the imbedded bow. Still she stuck. Gai 
field at last ordered a boat to be lowered to take a line 
across to the opposite bank. The crew protested against 
venturing out in the flood. The colonel leaped into the 
boat himself and steered it over. The force of the cur- 
rent carried them far below the point they sought to 
reach; but they finally succeeded in making fast to a 
tree and rigging a windlass with rails sufiiciently power- 
ful to draw the vessel off and get her once more afloat. 

" It was on Saturday that the boat left the mouth of 
the Sandy. All night, all day Sunday, and all through 
Sunday night they kept up their struggle with the cur- 
rent, Garfield leaving the wheel only eight hours out of 
the whole time, and that during the day. By nine o'clock 
Monday morning they reached the camp, and were re- 
ceived with tumultuous cheering. Garfield himself could 
scarcely escape being borne to headquarters on the shoul- 
ders of the delighted men." 

The months of January, February, and March, 1862, 
were comparatively uneventful. Colonel Garfield con- 
tinued to hold the Sandy Valley with his forces. A 
number of encounters took place between his troops and 
the Confederate guerilla bands. The Union forces were 




MES. LUCRETIA GAEFIELD, WIFE OF ITIE PRESIDENT. 



BECOMES A BRKJADIER-GENERAL. 81 

generally successful, and the Confederates were graduallr 
driven from the State. 

In spite of these successes, however, Humphrey Mar- 
shall managed to maintain a poit of observation in the 
rugged pass through the mountains known as Pound Gap. 
situated just on the border between Vii-ginia and Ken- 
tucky. This post was held by a force of about five hun- 
dred men. Garfield determined to break it up, und ac- 
cordingly set out on the 14th of March with about five 
Imndred infantry and two hundred cavalry, to carry this 
purpose into eiiect. He had to march forty miles over 
a road that was scarcely passable for a single horseman, 
but he pushed on with energy, and by the evening ot 
the loth he reached the foot of the mountain two miles 
north of the Gap. On the morning of the 16th he moved 
forward to attack the po^t, sending his cavah-y directly 
up the road through the Gap, to divert the enemy's at- 
tention from his real attack, while with the infantry he 
moved by an unfrequented footpath up the side of the 
mountain, his march being concealed by a heavy snow- 
storm. The movements of the cavalry so completely ab- 
sorbed the enemy's attention that Garfield wcis enabled 
to advance his infantry to a point within a quarter of a 
mile^ of the Southern position without being perceived. 
Having gained this point in safety he hurled his men like 
a thunderbolt upon the enemy, who, unsuspicious of asi 
attack from that quarter were taken by surprise and were 
soon thrown into confusion by it. A few volleys were 
exchanged, and then the Confederates retreated in dis- 
order down the mountain side, followed by the cavalry^ 
who pursued them for several miles into Virginia. The 



82 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

infantry at once occupied the captured position and 
secured a considerable quantity of stores. Tlie entire 
Union force passed the night in the comfortable log huts 
of the enemy. The next morning all the structures con- 
nected with the post were set on fire, together with the 
stores that Colonel Garfield was unable to carry away, 
and the Union forces returned to their camp in the Sandy 
Valley, well satisfied with the success they had won. 

On the 23d of March, Garfield receiA^ed orders from 
Buell to leave a small force at Piketon and hasten with 
the rest of his command to Louisville. He was now to 
take part in the more important operations of the war. 

The Kentucky campaign of Colonel Garfield was en- 
tirely satisfactory to his official superiors and to the 
country at large. General Buell was so well pleased 
with the victory of Middle Creek, that he issued a thrill- 
ing congratulatory order, in which he expressed his ap- 
preciation of the skill and good generalship dispLiyed by 
Garfield, in terms of unusual warmth. The full text of 
the order was as follows : 

** Headquarters, Department of the Ohio, 

Louisville, Kentucky, Jan., 20, 1862. 

" General Orders, No. 40. 

" The general commanding takes occasion to thank 
Cfcneral Garfield and his troops for their successful cam- 
paign against the rebel force under General Marshall on 
the Big Sandy, and their gallant conduct in battle. 
They have overcome formidable difficulties in the char- 
acter of the country, the condition of the roads, and the 
inclemency of the season ; and, without artillery, have 



BECOMES A BRIGADIER-GENERAL. 83 

in several engagements, terminating in the battle on 
Middle Creek, on the 10th instant, driven the enemy 
from his intrenched positions and forced him back into 
the mountains with the loss of a large amount of baggage 
and stores, and many of his men killed or captured. 

" These services have called into action the highest 
qualities of a soldier — fortitude, perseverance, courage." 

"For his services in this campaign Colonel Garfield 
was promoted by the President to the grade of brigadier- 
general of volunteers, his commission dating from the 
10th of January, 1862, the day of the battle of Middle 
Creek. The promotion gave great satisfaction to both 
the people of Ohio and the troops in the field, and all 
felt that a brilliant future was open to the young general. 

" Later criticism," says Mr. Reid, " will confirm the 
general verdict then passed on the Sandy Valley cam- 
paign. It was the first of the series of brilliant suc- 
cesses that made the spring of 1862 so memorable. Mill 
Springs, Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Nashville, Island 
No. 10, Memphis, followed in quick succession; but it 
was Garfield's honor that he opened this season of vic- 
tories. His plans, as we have seen, were based on 
sound military principles ; the energy which he threw 
into their execution was thoroughly admirable, and his 
management of the raw volunteers was such that they 
acquired the fullest confidence in their commander, and 
endured the hardships of the campaign with a fortitude 
not often shown in the first field service of new troops. 
But the operations were on a small scale, and their chief 
significance lay in the capacity they developed rather 
than in their intrinsic importance." 



CHAPTER IV. 

FROM SHILOH TO CHICKAMAXJGA. 

General Garfield given a Brigade in the Army of the Cumberland — Joins 
Buell on the march — Battle of Pittsburgh Landing — General Garfield's 
share in this fight — Takes part in the Pursuit — The Siege of Cormth — 
Garfield's Brigade one of the first to enter the town — Is ordered to /o- 
pair the Memphis and Charleston Railroad— Successful performance of 
this duty— Garfield at Huntsville— Detailed for Court-martial duty — 
A severe illness — Ordered to Cumberland Gap — Placed on the Fitz-John 
Porter Court-martial — Ordered to South Carolina — Battle of Stone 
River — Garfield is appointed Chief of Staff to General Rosecraus — His 
duties and services in this position — General Rosecrans' quarrels with 
the War Department — Garfield endeavors to harmonize these ditficulties 
— Rosecrans' delay at Murfreesboro — Reasons for it — Garfield's views 
respecting it — A stinging letter from Rosecrans to Halleck — Garfield's 
advice respecting the Reorganization of the Army — It is disregarded — 
He urges Rosecrans to advance — A Model Military Report — The Army 
moves off — The Tullahoma Campaign — A brilliant success — It waa 
really due to Garfield — Advance upon Chattanooga — Retreat of Bragg — 
Battle of Chickamauga — Garfield's share iu it — He is promoted to be 
Major-Oeneral of Volunteers for his conduct at Chickamauga. 

Upon reaching Louisville, General Garfield found that the 
Army of the Ohio was on its way to join General Grant 
at Pittsburgh Landing, on the Tennessee River, and had 
already moved beyond Nashville. He set out quickly 
after it, and joined it about thirty miles south of Colum- 
bia. Upon reporting to General Buell he was ordered to 
Uike command of the Twentieth brigade, which at that 
time formed a part of General Thomas J. Wood's division. 



FROM SIIILOH TO CHICKAMAUGA. 85 

The latter part of the march was made with all speed, 
for news had come that the Confederates had attacked 
General Grant's army at Pittsburgh Landing, and were 
pressing it very hard. Late in the afternoon of the first 
day of the battle, the advanced forces of General Buell 
reached the battle- fiehl The division to which Garfield 
was attached arrived about noon on the second da}^ 
April 7th, and was at once thrown forward into the 
action. Garfield's brigade took part in the closing 
scenes of the battle, and acquitted itself with distinction, 
though the Union victory was already decided when it 
arrived upon the scene. Concerning the part played by 
Buell's troops in this great battle the brilliant author of 
" 01) io in the War " says : 

" We need not repeat the sad story of the first day's 
disaster, which, in other pages, has been fully traced. 
Before Nelson could get up with his advance division, 
Grant was sending back earnestly for assistance, and 
representing the force with which he was engaged at a 
hundred thousand. 

" The advance of Nelson's division, after waiting for 
some time opposite the landing for means of crossing, 
reached the field just as the rebels were making their 
last advance. It rapidly took post under General Buell's 
direction, and opened with musketry and artillery. No 
more ground was yielded, and the troops encamped in 

line of battle. 

" There was no conference between the command- 
ers. One of Grant's subordinates furnished Buell with 
a rough map of the ground, and t*iere was a common 
understanding that operations must be renewed at day- 



86 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

light. Through the night Crittenden's division of Buell's 
army arrived, and was moved out upon Nelson's right. 
McCook's, which arrived in time to get into action only 
a little later than the others, was used for further pro- 
longation to the right. 

"And now was seen, even more conspicuously than 
in the steady marching, the results of the fine discipline 
which Buell had been enforcing. At daybreak Nelson, 
moving in line of baHle, drove in the enemy's pickets and 
engaged his artillery. The other divisions were then 
brought up, and with varying fortune the whole line ad- 
vanced. It stretched over three-fourths of the battle 
field. The remainder was left to the arriving fragments 
of Grant's armv. There was no straggling'- from that 
line ; no confused breaking and fleeing to ttie rear on the 
first onset of the enemy. Many of the troops had never 
before been under fire ; and they were commanded by a 
man who, before that eventful day, had never handled so 
large a force as a single regiment in action. But he was 
a soldier, and he was manoeuvring men of whom he had 
made soldiers. An effort was made to turn his right 
flank — he promptly threw in McCook's division to check 
it. An effort was made to turn, his left flank — he parried 
it, then brought up the reserves at that point, hurled the 
whole force against Beauregard's right, drove it, and so 
flanked the rest of the rebel line, which speedily fell 
back. Then again the whole line advanced. 

" At no time did the force thus wielded lose its cohe- 
sion, but there were moments when the prospect looked 
gloomy. A battery was driven, with its supports, and a 
c.-iisson was lost. Another battery was driven, and sev- 



FROM SHILOH TO CHICK AM AUG A. 87 

end guns weie lost. But the line speedily rallied, and 
they were recaptured. Then again it pressed forward. 
For hours still the struggle continued through the alter- 
nate strips of woodland and little intervals of farm-land, 
on which, the day before. Grant's army had retreated. 
McCook's division had the honor of ending the struggle, 
and its last charge carried it into the camps from which 
Sherman had been driven. The disaster was retrieved — 
at a cost to Buell's army of two thousand one hundred 
and sixty-seven killed, wounded, and missing. An equal 
or greater loss had been inflicted, and twenty pieces of 
rebel artillery had been captured." 

On the 8th of April, Garfield moved forward with 
Sherman's advance in the pursuit of the retreating enemy, 
and had a sharp encounter with the Confederate rear- 
guard a few miles beyond the battle-field. 

The Confederates retreated to their strong position at 
Corinth. The Union army advanced to that point, and 
General Halleck assumed the command of all the forces. 
The Confederate position was formally invested, and a 
regular siege of the place was begun. General Garfield's 
brigade bore its full share in the tiresome and laborious 
operations of the siege. On the 30th of May the Confed- 
erates completed the evacuation of Corinth, which they 
had begun some weeks ago, and retired in safety to a 
j)osition farther south, leaving to General Halieck, as the 
fruits of his siege operations, their deserted works and 
about four hundred prisoners. The Union forces occupied 
Corinth the next day, Garfield's brigade being among the 
first to enter the abandoned stronghold. 

Corinth having fallen, General Buell was ordered by 



88 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

General Halleck to advance through North Alabama t« 
Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the purpose of liberating 
East Tennessee. General Buell urged a more northerly 
route, leading through Middle Tennessee and McMinn- 
ville, but having for its end the occupation of the same 
points, Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Dalton. Halleck 
accepted this change, but on the 12th of June withdrew 
his consent to it, and ordered Buell to advance along the 
line of the Memphis and Charleston railway, with Corinth 
as a second base. lie was directed to repair the railroad 
as he advanced. To General Garfield's brigade, General 
Buell assigned the task of repairing the railroad eastward 
from Corinth to Decatur, an arduous task, and one which 
subsequently proved of no practical benefit during the 
campaign which followed. Garfield executed his orders 
as promptly as was possible. Crossing the Tennessee 
River at Decatur, he ndvanced to Iluntsville, Alabama, 
where he remained during the rest of the canspaign. 

While at Iluntsville, General Garfield was made presi- 
dent of a court-martial appointed for the trial of Colonel 
Turchin, whose command had committed unpardonable 
excesses in its reoccupation of Athens, Alabama. The 
ability which he displayed in the trial of this case, which 
resulted in the dismissal of Colonel Turchin from the 
army, attracted the attention of his superiors, and caused 
him to be detailed on several other courts-martial. 

The malarious character of the country in which he 
was serving revived the old tendency to fever and ague 
which General Garfield had contracted when a boy boat- 
man on the Ohio canal, and he was now seized with an 
attack of chills and fever so violent that he was sent 



FROM SITTLOII TO CHICKAMAUOA. S9 

home on sick leave about the first of August, 1862. 
About the same time orders were received from Wash- 
ington, tendering him a new and more important com- 
mand. The Secretary of War had formed a high esti- 
mate of General Garfield's military ability, an opinion 
which he continued to entertain throughout the war, and 
he now ordered General Garfield to repair at once to 
Cumberland Gap. and relieve General George W. Morgan 
of the command of the Union forces at that point. When 
these orders reached General Garfield he was confined 
to his bed, and was too ill to execute tliem. About a 
month later the Secretary of War ordered him to report 
to him in person, at Washington, as soon as the state of 
his health would permit him to return to duty. 

Reaching Washington, he found that he had been ap- 
pointed by the Secretary of War one of the first members 
of the court-martial summoned for the trial of General 
Fitz-John Porter on charges preferred against him by 
General Pope. This selection was caused by the confi- 
dence which tlrie Government had come to repose in 
General Garfield's knowledge of the law, his excellent 
judgment and impartiality, as well as his sterling devo- 
tion to the Union. He attended the sessions of the court 
throu2:hout the trial with most earnest attention, and 
gave his vote for the verdict by which General Porter 
was dismissed from the army and rendered incapable of 
holding any position of profit or trust under the Govern- 
ment of the United States. He has always maintained 
the justice of this sentence, and during his subsequent 
service in Congress has firmly opposed any and all atr 
tempts to reopen the matter or to set a^ide the sentence? 



JO JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

of the court-martial. He declared that the evidence 
before the court showed beyond question that Portei 
had wilfully permitted the defeat of Pope's army at the 
second battle of Bull Run, and that no less punishment 
than absolute dismissal from the service would be at all 
adequate to his offense. The duties of the court-martial 
detained General Garfiekl in Washington during almost 
the whole of the autumn of 1862. The president of the 
court was Major-General David Hunter, who was to take 
command in South Carolina upon the adjournment of 
the court-martial. He conceived a warm friendship for 
Garfield, which was returned, and was drawn to him es- 
pecially by the strong antislavery views of the latter, 
which had been greatly strengthened by his experience 
during the war. General Hunter applied for and ob- 
tained an order from the War Department detailing Gen- 
eral Garfield for service with him in South Carolina. 
This appointment was very gratifying to General Gar- 
field, and he was in the midst of his preparations to pro- 
ceed to Port Royal, when the order was revoked, and he 
was directed to proceed to a new field of duty. In the 
last days of December, 1862, the western army, in which 
General Garfield had won his first distinction, fought the 
terrible battle of Stone River, or Murfreesboro, winning a 
memorable victory. Among the killed was the lamented 
General Garesche, cldef of staff to General Rosecrans, 
the commander of the army. The post thus made va- 
cant was one of the greatest importance, and as Generid 
Garesch.^, had been regarded as one of the most brilliant 
officers in the service, it was felt that his successor must 
be a man who would not suffer upon comparison with 



FROM SHILOH TO CHICKAMAUOA. 91 

him The Secretary of War determined to appoint Gen- 
era] Garfield to the vacancy ; and so, early in January, 
1863, his South Carolina appointment was revoked, and 
he was ordered to proceed to Tennessee and join General 
Rosecrans. 

" The chief of staff should bear the same relation to 
his general that a minister of state does to his sovereign. 
What this last relation is the most brilliant of recent 
historians shall tell us : ' The difference between a ser- 
vant and a minister of state lies in this, that the servant 
obeys the orders given him without troubling himself 
concerning the question, whether his master is right or 
wrong ; while a minister of state declines to be the in- 
strument for giving efiect to measures which he deems to 
be hurtful to his country. The chancellor of the Russian 
Empire was sagacious and politic. . . That the Czar was 
wrong in these transactions against Turkey no man knew 
better. . . But unha})pily for the Czar and for his em- 
pire, the minister of state did not enjoy so commanding a 
station as to be able to put restraint upon his sovereign, 
nor even perhaps to offer him counsel in his angry mood.' 
We are now to see that in some respects our chief of 
staff came to a singular experience. 

" From the day of his appointment General Garfield 
become the intimate associate and confidential adviser of 
his chief But he did not occupy so commanding a sta- 
tion as to be able to put restraint upon him. 

" The time of General Garfield's arrival marks tbe 
beginning of that period of quarrels with the war depart- 
ment, in which General [\osecrans frittered away his in- 
Quenoe and paved the road for his removal. We have 



92 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

seen, in tracing the career of that great strategist and 
gallant soldier, how unwise he always was in caring for 
his own interests, and how imprudent was the most of his 
intercourse with his superiors. Yet he was nearly always 
right in his demands. General Garfield earnestly syni- 
]>at]iized with his appeals for more cavalry and for re- 
volving arms, a demand which General Buell had made 
quite as emphatically as his successor, and with an ac- 
curate prediction of the evils that would flow from its 
absence. But Garfield did all that lay in his power to 
soften the tone of asperity which his chief adopted in 
his despatches 1o Washington. Sometimes he took the 
responsibility of totally suppressing an angry message. 
OCtener he ventured to soften the phraseology. But in 
all this there was a limit beyond which he could not go ; 
and when Rosecrans had pronounced certai-n statements 
of the department ' a profound, grievous, cruel, and un- 
generous official and personal wrong,' the good offices of 
the chief of staff were no longer efficacious — the breach 
was irreparahle. Thenceforv/ard he could only strive to 
make victories in the field atone for errors in council." 

The armv of General Rosecrans remained at Mur- 
freesboro from the 4th of January to the 23d of June, 
1863. In his testimony before the committee on the 
conduct of the war, General Rosecrans explains this 
delay by the weakness of his cavalry force, the scarcity 
of forage, the nature of the roads, and the policy of 
liolding Bragg on his front rather than driving him out 
of Tennessee, only that he might unite with Joseph E. 
Johnston and fall upon Grant who was still ineffectually 
i^truggling before Vicksburg. In his sketch of his mi!i- 



FROM SHILOII TO CHICKAMAUGA. 93 

tary career, officially furnished to the war department, 
he says : " The detachment of General Burnside's troops 
to Vicksburg, the uncertainty of the issue of our opera- 
tions there, and the necessity of ' nursing,' so to speak, 
General Bragg on my front, to keep him from retirinj.' 
behind the mountain and the Tennessee, whence he could 
and would have been obliged to send heavy re-enforce- 
ments to Johnston, delayed the advance of my army 
until the 23d of June, when, the circumstances at VickS' 
burgh and the arrival of all our cavalry horse warranting 
it, we began the campaign. And in his correspondence 
with the general-in-chief, he said that to fight in Tennes- 
see while Grant was about fighting at Vicksburg, would 
violate one of the fundamental maxiais of war, the 
proper application of which would forbid tliis nation from 
engaging all its forces in the great ^Vest at the same 
time, so as to leave it without a single reserve to stem 
the current of possible disaster." 

*' Some of these considerations are of undoubted 
weight ; but on the whole they will hardly seem now to 
have afibrded sufficient cause for the delay. In point of 
fact, Bragg profited by it to detach a considerable portion 
of his troops to the rebel lines of the south-west, the very 
result which Rosecrans imagined himself to be hindering. 
There are no traces of complaint from Grant himself on 
the subject, but his friends were not silent ; and there is 
Bome reason to think that their importunity served still 
farther to exasperate the already dissatisfied feelings of 
the general-in-chief. 

" Presently there sprang up an extraordinary state 
of ailairs between that officer a]id Ge^nerai Rosecrans. 



94 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

The latter asked for cavnlry. General Halleck replied as 
if he thought it a complaint. Rosecrnns telegraphed the 
Secretary of War. In reply came fresh hints from Hal- 
leck about the tendency of his subordinate to complain of 
his means instead of using them. Rosecrans begged for 
revolving rifles, adding almost piteously : ' Don't be 
weary at my importunity. No economy can compare 
with that of furnishing revolving arms ; no mode of re- 
cruiting will so promptly and efficaciously strengthen us.' 
But the Prussian war not yet having been fought the 
practical general-in-chief considered such applications the 
extravagant whims of a dreaming theorist. 

" The despatches for ' cavalry/ * cavalry,' ' cavalry,' 
continued. On 20th March, General Rosecrnns said : 
' Duty compels me to recall the attention of the War 
Department to the neeessity of more cavalry here. Let 
it be clearly understood that the enemy have five to our 
one, and can, therefore, command the resources of the 
country and the services of the inhabitants.' On 29th 
March again : ' General Rousseau would undertake to 
raise eight or ten thousand mounted infantry. I think 
the time very propitious.' On 24th April, still the same • 
' Cavalry horses are indispensable to our success here 
This has been stated and reiterated to the department ; 
but horses have not been obtained.' Again, on 10th 
May, in reply to a letter of General Halleck, proving to 
him that he had cavalry enough : ' We have at no time 
been able to turn out more than five thousand for actual 
duty. I am not mistaken in saying that this great army 
would gain more from ten thousand effective cavalry than 
from twenty thousand infantry.' On 26th July : ' I have 



FROM SHTLOH TO CHICKAMAUGA. . 95 

sent General Rousseau to Washington, directed to lay 
before you his plan for obtaining from the disciplined 
troops recently mustered out in the East, such a mounted 
force as would enable us to command the country south 
of us.' This last application ended the list. Genend 
Rousseau returned, telling Rosecrans that he ' was satis- 
fied his official destruction was but a question of time 
and opportunity ; the will to accomplish existed, nnd 
there was no use to hope for any assistance from the War 
Department. The Secretary of War had ' even gone so 
far as to say that he would be damned if he would give 
Rosecrans another man.' 

" For meantime, the high spirit and utter lack of cau- 
tion in personal matters which sd distinguished General 
Rosecrans, had led to two other breaches with the de- 
partment. Either of them would have served to make 
his position as a successful general, vigorously prosecut- 
ing a triumphant campaign, sufficiently unpleasant. As 
a delaying general, furnishing excuses for not undertak- 
ing the campaign on which the Government, with all its 
power, was urging him, they were enough to work his 
ruin. Yet who can check a thrill of honest pride as he 
reads that an Ohio general, in such a plight, had sturdy 
manhood enough left to send a despatch like this to the 
all powerful general-in-chief. 

*' MuRFREESBORO, 6th March, 1863. 

" General : — Yours of the 1st instant, announcing the 
offer of a vacant major-generalship in the regular army 
to the general in the field who first wins an important 
aud decisive victory, is at hand. As an officer and a 



90 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

citizen I feel degraded at such an auctioneering of honors 

Have we a general who would fight for his own personal 

benefit when he would not for honor and his country ? 

He would come by his commission basely in that case, 

and deserve to be despised by men of honor. But are all 

the brave and honorable generals on an equality as to 

chances ? If not, it is unjust to those who probably 

deserve most. 

" W. S. RosECRANS, Major-General. 

"To Major-General H. W. Hallkck, 
General-in-Chief" 

" Under the merited sting of this incautious but unan- 
swerable rebuke, General Halleck renewed his complaints, 
found fault with Rosecrans' reports, nnd his failures to 
report, and even criticised the expenses of his telegraph- 
ing. At last, Rosecrans, chafing under one of these de- 
. spatches, with absolutely characteristic lack of prudence, 
was stung into saying : ' That I am very careful to in- 
form the department of my successes, and of till captures 
from the enemy, is not true, as the records of our oilici; 
will show ; that I have failed to inform the Government 
of my defeats and losses is equally untrue, both in letter 
and in spirit. I regard the statement of these two propo- 
sitions of the War Department as a profound, grievous, 
cruel, and ungenerous official and personal wrong.' Was 
it wonderful now — human nature being, after all, only 
human nature — that Rosecrans' olficial destruction was 
but a question of time and opportunity ?" * 

* This summary of Gentrral Rosecrans' relations with the War Depart 
ment is introduced here that the reader may have a clearer understanding 
of the delicate and often difficult duties of General Gartield's position. 



FROM SIIILOH TO CHICKAMAUGA. 97 

General Garfield regarded the organization of the 
army of General Rosecrans ;is radically defective, and 
so expressed himself to his chief, lie was satisfied that 
it was a vital error to retain in command of the wings 
two generals who had shown themselves incapable, and 
one of his first official acts was to recommend the im- 
mediate displacement of Generals T. L. Crittenden and 
A. M. McCook. He urged General Rosecrans to ai> 
point in their places Generals John McDowell and Don 
Carlos Buell. He had the good sense to feel confidence 
in the genuine ability of those officers in spite of their mis- 
fortunes, and was not influenced by the popular prejudice 
against those officers. He argued that JMcDowell and 
Buell were not only officers admirably suited to the 
commands he proposed for them, but that their grati- 
tude to General Rosecrans, in case of their appointment, 
for the opportunity to emerge from the cloud which ob- 
scured them, would stimubite them to a zealous and able 
execution of his plans. By making these appointments 
and retaining General George H. Thomas in his present 
command, the Array of the Cumberland would be the 
best officered force in the service of the Republic. Rose- 
crans admitted all this, and said he was convinced 
that Crittenden and McCook ought to be replaced by 
better men, but with characteristic kindness of heart 
said, " he hated to injure two such good fellows," and 
declined to remove them. 

The delay at Murfreesboro irritated the War De- 
partment, as has been said, and as the spring wore on, 
the Government demanded an advance with extraordinary 
vehemence. " General R-osecrans delayed, waiting foi 



98 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

cavalry, for re-enforcements, for Grant's movements 
before Vicksburg, for the movements of the enemy, for 
the opinions of his generals." General Garfield was 
at first in sympathy with his chief in these delays. lie 
fully realized the importance of delaying a movement 
until the army should be massed and strengthened ; but 
as time passed on, he too began to be impatient, and 
urged the commanding general to an immediate move- 
ment. " He had establish. ed a secret service system, 
then, perhaps, the most perfect in any of the Union ar- 
mies. From the intelligence it furnished, he felt sure 
that Bragg's force had been considerably reduced, and 
was now greatly inferior to that of Rosecrans. As he 
subsequently said, he refused to believe that this army 
which had defeated a superior force at Stone River, 
could not now move upon an inferior one with reasonable 
])rospects of success. Garfield continued to urge his 
views upon his commander, and, finally, General Rose- 
crans made a formal request to his corps, division, and 
cavalry commanders to submit in writing their views as 
to the propriety of an early advance. This request was 
addressed to seventeen generals, and with singular una- 
nimitv each and all advised against a forward movement. 
They gave diverse reasons, but reached the same con- 
clusion. Not one favored an immediate advance, and 
none were willing to advise even an early advance. 

" General Garfield collected the seventeen letters 
Bent in from the generals in reply to the questions of 
their commander, and fairly reported their substance, 
coupled with a cogent argument against them, and in 
favor of an immediate movement, This report we 



FROM SniLOII TO CHICKAMAUGA. 99 

v<>nture to pronounce the ablest military document 
known to have been submitted by a chief of staff to his 
superior during the war. General Garfield stood abso- 
lutely alone, every general commanding troops having 
as we have seen, either openly opposed or failed to ap- 
prove an advance. But his statements were so clear 
and his arguments so forcible that he carried conviction. 
We give the full text of this report, which will be 
found of great interest to the reader. It is as follows : — 

" Headquarters, Department of the Cumberland, 

Murfreeshoro, June 12, 1863. 

" General : — In your confidential letter of the 8th 
instant to the corps and division commanders and gen- 
erals of cavalry of this army, there were substantially 
five questions propounded for their consideration and an- 
swer, viz. : — 

" 1. Has the enemy in our front been materially 
weakened by detachments to Johnston, or elsewhere ? 

" 2. Can this army advance on him at this time with 
strong reasonable chances of fighting a great and success- 
ful battle ? 

" 3. Do you think an advance of our army at present 
likely to prevent additional re-enforcements being sent 
against General Grant by the enemy in our front ? 

" 4. Do you think an immediate advance of this army 
advisable ? 

" 5. Do you think an earli/ advance advisable ? 

" Many of the answers to these questions are not 
categorical, and cannot be clearly set down either as af-, 
firmative or negative. Especially in answer to the first 



100 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

question there is much indefiniteness, resulting from the 
difference of judgment as to how great a detachment 
could be considered a 'material reduction' of Bragg's 
strength. For example : one oiHcer thinks it has been 
reduced ten thousand, but not ' materially weakened.' 

" The answers to the second question are modified 
in some instances by the opinion that the rebels will fall 
back behind the Tennessee River, and thus no battle can 
be fought either successful or unsuccessful. 

" So far as these opinions can be stated in tabular 
form, they will stand thus : 

Yet. No. 

Answer to first question 6 11 

Answer to second question 2 11 

Answer to third question 4 10 

Answer to fourth question 15 

Answer to fifth question 2 

" On the fifth question three gave it as their opinion 
that this army ought to advance as soon as Vicksburg 
falls, should that event happen. 

" The following is a summary of the reasons as- 
signed why we should not, at this time, advance upon 
the enemy : 

" 1. With Hooker's army defeated, and Grant's bend- 
ing all its energies in a yet undecided struggle, it is bad 
policy to risk our only reserve army to the chances of a 
general engagement. A failure here would have most 
disastrous eflects on our lines of communication, and ou 
politics in the loyal States. 

" 2. We should be compelled to light the enemy on 
his own ground, or follow him in a fruitless stern chase ; 
or if we attempted to outflank him and turn his position, 



FROM SHILOH TO CHICKAMAUGA. 101 

we should expose our line of communication and run 
the risk of being pushed back into a rough country well- 
known to the enemy and little to ourselves. 

" 3. In case the enemy should fall back without ac- 
cepting battle he could make our advance very slow, and 
with a comparatively small force posted in the gaps of 
the mount'iins could hold us back while he crossed the 
Tennessee River, where he would be measurely secure 
and free to send re-enforcements to Johnston. His forces 
in East Tennessee could seriously harass our left flank, 
and constantly disturb our communications. 

" 4. The withdrawal of Burnside's Ninth Army Corps 
deprive us of an important reserve and flank protection, 
thus increasing the difficulty of an advance. 

" 5. General Hurlbut has sent the most of his forces 
away to General Grant, thus leaving West Tennessee un- 
covered, and laying our right flank and rear open to raids 
of the enemy. 

" The following incidental opinions are expressed : 
" 1. One officer thinks it probable that the enemy 
has been strengthened rather than weakened, and that 
he (the enemy) would have a reasonable prospect of vic- 
tory in a general battle. 

" 2. One officer believes the result of a general battle 
would be doubtful, a victory barren, and a defeat most 
disastrous. 

" 3. Three officers believe that an advance would 
bring on a general engagement. Three others believe it 
would not. 

" 4. Two officers express the opinion that the chances 
of success in a general battle are nearly equal. 



102 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



(I 



5. One officer expresses the belief that our army 
lias reached its maximum strength and efficiency, and 
that inactivity will seriously impair its effectiveness. 

" 6. Two officers say that an increase of our cavalry 
by about six thousand men would materially change tho 
aspect of our affairs and give us a decided advantage. 

" In addition to the above summary, I have the 
honor to submit an estimate of the strength of Bragg's 
army, gathered from all the data I have been able to ob- 
tain, including the estimate of the general commanding 
in his official report of the battle of Stone River, and 
facts gathered from prisoners, deserters, and refugees, 
and from rebel newspapers. After the battle Bragg con- 
solidated many of his decimated regiments and irregular 
organizations, and at the time of his sending re-enforce- 
ments to Johnston his army had reached its greatest 
effective strength. It consisted of five divisions of in- 
fantry, composed of ninety-four regiments and two in- 
dependent battalions of sharp-shooters ; say ninety-five 
regiments. By a law of the Confederate Congress, regi- 
ments are consolidated when their effective strength falls 
below two hundred and fifty men. Even the regiments 
formed by such consolidation (which may reasonably be 
regarded as the fullest) must fall below five hundred. 1 
am satisfied that four hundred is a large estimate of the 
average strength. 

" The force then would be — 

Infantry, 95 Regiments, 400 each 88,000 

Cavalry, 35 " eay 500 " 17,500 

Artillery, 26 Batteries, say 100 " 2,600 

Total 58,100 



FROM SHILOH TO CHICK AM AUG A. 103 

" This force has been reduced by detachments to 
Johnston. It is as well known as we can ever expect to 
ascertiiin such facts, that three brigades have gone from 
McCown^s division, and two or three from Breckinridge's 
say two. It is clear that there are now but four infan- 
try divisions in Bragg's army, the fourth being composed 
of fragments of McCown's and Breckinridge's divisions, 
and must be much smaller than the avei'age. Deducting 
the five brigades, and supposing them composed of only 
four regiments each, which is below the general average, 
it gives an infantry reduction of twenty regiments, four 
hundred each : eight thousand, leaving a remainder of 
thirty thousand. 

" It is clearly ascei,rtained that at least two brigades 
of cavalry have been sent from Van Dorn's command to 
Mississippi, and it is asserted in the Chattanooga Rchel 
of June 11th, that General Morgan's command has been 
permanently detached and sent to Eastern Kentucky. 
It is not certainly known how large his division is, but it 
is known to contain at least two brigades. Taking this 
minimum as the fact, we have a cavalry reduction of four 
bi'ig.'ides. 

" Taking the lowest estimate, four regiments to the 
brigade, we have a reduction by detachment of sixteen 
regiments, five hundred each, leaving his present effective 
cavalry force nine thousand five hundred. 

" With the nine brigades of the two arms thus de- 
tached it will be safe to say there have gone — 

6 Batteries, 80 men each 480 

Leaving him 20 Batteries 2,120 

Making a total reduction of 10,480 

Leaving of the three a>rms 41,(380 



104 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



" In this estimate of Bragg's present strength I have 
plnced all doubts in his favor, and I have no question 
that my estimate is considerably beyond the truth. 
General Sheridan, who has taken great pains to collect 
evidence on this point, places it considerably below 
these figures. But assuming these to be correct, and . 
granting what is still more improbable, that Bragg would 
abandon all his rear posts, and entirely neglect his com- 
munications and could bring his last man into battle, I 
next ask. What have we with which to oppose him ? 

" The last official report of effective strength, now on 
file in the office of the assistant adjutant-general, is dated 
June 11, and shows that we have in this department, 
omitting all officers and enlisted men attached to depart- 
ment, corps, division, and brigade headquarters : — 

" 1. Infantry — One hundred and seventy-three regi- 
ments ; ten battalions sharp-shooters ; four battalions 
pioneers, and one regiment engineers and mechanics, with 
a total effective strength of seventy thousand nine hun- 
dred and eighteen. 

" 2. Cavalry — Tvv^enty-seven regiments and one un- 
attached company, eleven thousand eight hundred and 
thirteen. 

'•' 3. Artillery — Forty-seven and a half batteries field 
artillery, consisting of two hundred and ninety-two guns 
and five hundred and sixty-nine men, making a general 
total of eighty-seven thousand eight hundred. 

"Leaving out all commissioned officers, this army 
represents eighty-two thousand seven hundred and sixty- 
seven bayonets and sabres. 

" This report does not include the Fifth Iowa Cav- 



FROM SHILOH TO CHICKAMAUGA. 105 

airy, six hundred strong, lately armed ; nor the First 
Wisconsin Cavalry ; nor Coburn's brigade of infantry, 
now arriving ; nor the two thousand three hundred and 
ninety-four convalescents now on light duty in ' Fortress 
Rosecrans.' 

" There are detached from this force as follows : 

At Gallatin 9G9 

At Cartha.^e 1,149 

At Fort Douelson 1,483 

At Clarksville 1,138 

AtNashville 7,293 

At Franklin 900 

At Lavergne 2,117 

Total 15.050 

" With these posts as they are, and leaving two 
thousand five hundred efficient men in addition to the 
two thousand three hundred and ninety-four convales- 
cents to hold the works at this place, there will be left 
sixty-live thousand one hundred and thirty-seven bayo- 
nets and sabres to throw against Bragg's forty-one thou- 
sand six hundred and eighty. 

" I beg leave, also, to submit the following consid- 
erations : — 

" 1. Bragg's array is now weaker than it has been 
since the battle of Stone River, or is likely to be again 
for the present, while our army has reached its maximum 
strength, and we have no right to expect re-enforcements 
^or several months, if at all. 

" 2. Whatever be the result at Vicksburg, the de- 
termination of its fate will give large re-enforcements to 
Bragg. If Grant is successful, his army will require 
many weeks to recover from the shock and strain of his 



106 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

late campaign, while Johnston will send back to Bragg 
a force sufficient to insure the safety of Tennessee. If 
Grant fails, the same result will inevitably follow, so fai 
as Bragg's army is concerned. 

" 3. No man can predict with certainty the result of 
any battle, however great the disparity in numbers. 
Such results are in the hand of God. But, viewing the 
question in the light of human calculation, I refuse to 
entertain a doubt that this army, which in January last 
defeated Bragg's superior numbers, can not overwhelm 
his present greatly inferior forces. 

" 4. The most unfavorable course for us that Brag.t^ 
could take would be to fall back without giving us battle, 
but this would be very disastrous to him. Besides the 
loss of materiel of war, and the abandonment of the rich 
and abundant harvest now nearly ripe in Central Tennes- 
see, he would lose heavily by desertion. It is well 
known that a widespread dissatisfaction exists among 
his Kentucky and Tennessee troops. They are already 
deserting in large numbers. A retreat would greatly 
increase both the desire and the opportunity for deser- 
tion, and would very materially reduce his physical and 
moral strength. While it would lengthen our communi- 
cations, it would give us possession of McMinnville, and 
enable us to threaten Chattanooga and East Tennessee ; 
and it would not be unreasonable to expect an early oc- 
cupation of the former place. 

" 5. But the chances are more than ever that a 
sudden and rapid movement would compel a general 
engagement, and the defeat of Bragg would be in the 
highest degree disastrous to the rebellion. 



FROM SIIILOII TO CHICKAMAUGA. 107 

*^6. The turbulent aspect of politics in the loyal 
States renders a decisive blow against the enemy at this 
time of the highest importance to the success of the 
Government at the polls, and in the enforcement of the 
Conscription Act. 

"7. The Government and the War Department be 
lieve that this army ought to move upcto the enemy. 
The army desires it, and the country is anxiously hoping 

for it. 

" 8. Our true objective point is the rebel army, 
whose last reserves are substantially in the field, and an 
effective blow will crush the shell and soon be followed 
by the collapse of the rebel government. 

« 9. We have, in my judgment, wisely delayed a gen- 
eral movement hitherto, till your army could be massed, 
and your cavalry could be mounted. Your mobile force 
can now be concentrated in twenty-four hours, and your 
cavalry, if not equal in numerical strength to that of the 
enemy, is greatly superior in efficiency and morale. 

" For these reasons I believe an immediate advance 
of all our forces is advisable, and under the providence of 
God, will be successful. 

" Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

[Signed.] J. A. Garfield, 

Brigadier-General^ Chief of Staff. 

" Major-General Rosegrans, 

Commanding Department, Cumberland." 

General Rosecrans acknowledged the force of the ar- 
guments of his chief of staff, and the 24th of June, 1863, 
twelve days after the above report was written, the army 



108 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

moved forward from Murfreesboro toward the Confeder- 
ate position at TuUahoma. The advance was severely 
condemned by the leading generals of the Union arinye 
On the morning it was begun, General Thomas L. Crit- 
tenden, one of the corps commanders, went to headquar- 
ters and said to General Garfield : " It is understood, sir, 
by the general officers of the army, that this movement is 
your work. I wish you to understand that it is a rash 
and fatal move, for which you will be held responsible." 

The Confederate army, under General Bragg, occu- 
pied a strongly intrenched position at Tullahoma, with 
advanced positions at Shelbyville and Wartrace. The 
line was a very strong one, and the task before General 
Rosecrans was not to attack it, but to manoeuvre so 
as to compel the Confederates to relinquish it without a 
battle. The movements by which he accomplished this 
were so brilliant and successful that they drew praise 
from even General FT al lock. Gordon Granger's division 
was thrown forward boldly towards Shelbyville, as if to 
attack that place ; and while Bragg's attention was taken 
up with this movement, General Rosecrans with the rest 
of the army marched rapidly to the right and seized the 
mountain passes which commanded the Confederate line 
of retreat. Bragg now perceived the true nature of the 
Union movement, and hastily drew in his forces from 
Slielbyville. Rosecrans thereupon moved forward upon 
Tullahoma, and General Bragg, who was unwilling to fight 
for that position, abandoned it, and retreated across the 
Tennessee River to Chattanooga. " Thus closed," says 
General Rosecrans, " a nine days' campaign which drove 
the enemy from two fortified positions, and giive us pos- 



FROM SHILOH TO CHICKAMAUGA. 109 

Bossion of Middle Tennessee, conducted in one of the 
most extraordinary rains ever known in Tennessee at 
that period of the year, over a soil that became almost a 
quicksand. These results were far more successful than 
was anticipated, and could only have been obtained by a 
surprise as to the direction and force of our movements." 
Sixteen hundred and thirty-four prisoners, six pieces oi 
artillery, and hirge quantities of stores were taken from 
the Confederates. Hosecrans' loss was only five hundred 

and sixty. 

" There now sprang up renewed differences between 
General Hosecrans and the War Department. In the 
general policy that controlled the movements of the army 
Garfield heartily sympathized ; he had, in fact, aided to 
give shape to that policy. But he deplored his chiefs 
testy manner of conducting his defence to the complaints 
i)f the War Department, and did his best to soften the 
asperities of the correspondence." 

. After Bragg retired to Chattanooga, Rosecrans moved 
to Stevenson, Alabama, halting there for over a month 
to repair tlie railroad and bring up his supplies. On the 
16th of August his army moved against Chattanooga, and 
General Burnside, with a strong column, advanced from 
Kentucky into East Tennessee. Finding the enemy's 
position at Chattanooga too strong to be carried by a 
direct assault, Rosecrans endeavored to turn it and cut 
Bragg off from Northern Georgia, but on the Sth of Sep- 
tember the Confederates evacuated Chattanooga and feU 
baik towards Dalton. 

Rosecrans, believing that Bragg was in full retreat for 

Georgia, started at once in pursuit, disposing his forces 



110 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

in such a manner as to cut off his adversary. These 
movements he hoped would enable him to capture the 
whole rebel army, and it is likely they would have suc- 
ceeded had the situation of that army been as desperate 
as he supposed it. But General Bragsr, instead of fly- 
ing southward, had merely evacuated Chattanooga, and 
fallen back a short distance to secure his junction with 
Longstreet^s corps, which was on its way from Virginia 
to join him. As soon as Longstreet arrived within sup- 
porting distance, Bragg suddenly wheeled about and 
marched back to give Rosecrans battle. 

This movement took the Union commander com- 
pletely by surprise, and embarrassed him considerably. 
Having no idea that Bragg meant anything but absolute 
flight, he had divided his army with the hope of inter- 
cepting him, and now the various corps were situated 
in such a manner as to expose them to the danger of 
being beaten in detail by the enemy's whole force. 
" The corps of General McCook was separated from 
General Thomas by a march of nearly three days. 
General Crittenden could not re-enforce General Thomas 
without exposing Chattanooga, and General Thomas 
could not move to General Crittenden's position witli- 
out exposing General McCook. It was a terrible situa- 
tion for the army, and might have been fatal to it had 
General Bragg moved with more rapidity. McCook 
was at once ordered to join Thomas, which he did by a 
forced march, reaching him late on the 17th. Every 
moment of Bragg's delay was carefully economized, and 
when McCook came up, the army was moved to Gordon's 
Mills, on the west side of the Chickamauga. 



FROM SIIILOH TO CHICKAMAUGA. 11] 

" General Bragg now moved his army by divisions, 
and crossed the Chickamauga at several fords and 
bridges north of Gordon's Mills, up to which he or lered 
the Virginian troops which had crossed many miles 
below, and near to which he attempted to concentrate. 
At this time the right of General Posecrans really 
rested on Gordon's Mills. General Tl*- mas had moved 
on until his left division under Genorrd Brannan, cov- 
ered the Rossville road. General Baird was on General 
Brannan's right, then followed successively Generals 
Johnson's, Reynolds', Palmer's and Van (Aleve's divis- 
ions. General Wood covered Gordon's Mills ford. 
General Negley, four miles farther south, held Owen's 
Gap. Generals Davis and Sheridan were on the march 
south of General Negley. General Wilder, with four 
regiments and a light battery, was posted at the right, 
near Gordon's Mills. General Gordon Grangers forces 
were held in reserve some distance back or the Ross- 
ville road. Such was the position on Saturday, the 
19th. The battle which now ensued, opened about ten 
o'clock. The first attack of the enemy was upon the 
left wing of Gen. Rosecrans, which the enemy endeav- 
ored to turn, so as to occupy the road to Chattanooga. 
But all their efforts for this object failed. The centre 
was next assailed, and temporarily driven back, but 
being promptly re-enforced, maintained its gi'ound. As 
night approached the battle ceased, and the combatants 
rested on their arms. Gen. Bragg now issued an order 
dividing the forces of his army into two corps or wings. 
The right was placed under the command of Lieut.-Gen. 
Polk, and the left under Lieut.-Gen. Longstreet. 



112 JAMES A, GARFIELD. 

" Toward morning of the next day, the army of 
General Rosecrans changed its positioa slightly to the 
rear, and contracted the extended lines of the previous 
day. Trains were moving northward on all the roads in 
the rear of Chattanooga, and the wounded were taken 
from the hospitals, which had become exposed by the 
concentration of the forces to the left. General Thomas 
still held the left with the divisions of Generals Palmer 
and Johnson attached to his corps and thrown in the 
centre. General Brannan was retired slightly, with his 
regiments arrayed in echelon. General Van Cleve was 
held in reserve on the west side of the first road in the 
rear of the line. Generals Wood, Davis, and Sheridan 
followed next, the last being on the extreme left. 
General Lytle occupied an isolated position at Gor- 
don's Mills. 

"^Orders were given by General Bragg to Lieuten- 
ant-General Polk to commence the attack at daylight 
on the next morning. These orders were immediately 
opened by him ; but prior to giving the order to move 
forward to the attack in the morning, General Polk 
discovered that, owing to a want of precaution, a por- 
tion of the left wing, amounting to a whole division, had 
been formed in front of his line, and that if the order to 
make the attack at daylight was obeyed, this division 
must inevitably be slaughtered. The battle was finally 
L'pened about half past nine a. m., by a forward move- 
ment of General Breckinridge, accompanied by General 
Cleburne, against the left and centre of General Rose- 
crans. Division after division was pushed forward 
to assist the attacking masses of the enemy, but with* 



FROM SniLOH TO CHICKAMAUGA. 113 

out success. The ground was held by General Thomas 
for more than two hours. Meantime, as General Rey- 
nolds was sorely pressed, General Wood was ordered, 
as he supposed, to march instantly by the left flank 
pass General Brannan, and go to the relief of General 
Reynolds, and that Generals Davis and Sheridan were 
to shift over to the left, and close up the line. General 
Rosecrans reports that the order was to close upon 
General Reynolds. General. Wood says that General 
Brannan was in line between his and Getieral Rey- 
nolds' division. 

" A gap was thus formed in the line of battle, of 
which the enemy took advantage, and striking General 
Davis in his flank and rear, threw his whole division 
into confusion. Passinsr throuo-h this break in General 
Rosecran's line, the enemy cut off his right and centre, 
and attacked General Sheridan's division, which was ad- 
vancing to the support of the left. After a brave but 
fruitless effort against this torrent of the enemy, he was 
compelled to give way, but afterward rallied a considera- 
ble portion of his force, and by a circuitous route joined 
General Thomas, who had now to breast the tide of 
battle against the whole army of the enemy. The right 
and part of the centre had been completely broken) and 
fled in confusion from the field, carrying with them to 
Chattanooga their commanders. Generals McCook and 
Crittenden, and also General Rosecrans, who was on 
that part of the line. General Garfield, his chief of staff, 
however, made his way to the left, and joined General 
Thomas, who still retained his position. His ranks had 
now assumed a crescent form, with his flanks supported 






114 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

by the lower spurs of the mountain, and here. ' like 
u lion at bay, he repulsed the terrible assaults of the 
enemy.' 

*' About half-past three p. m. the enemy disci vercd a 
gap in the hills, in the rear of the right flank of General 
Thomas, and General Longstreet commenced pres.^ing his 
columns through the passage. At tliis time Major- 
General Granger, who had been posted with hi? rjserves 
to cover the left and rear, arrived on the ficM. lie im- 
mediately attacked the forces of General Longstreet with 
General Steedman's brigade of cavalry. The confli'^t at 
this point is thus described by General Ilalleck : ' In 
the words of General Rosecrans' report, " swift was the 
charge, and terrible the conflict ; but the enemy was 
broken." A thousand of our brave men killed and 
wounded paid for its possession ; but we held the gap. 
Two divisions of Longstreet's corps confronted the posi- 
tion. Determined to take it, they successively came to 
the assault. A battery of six guns placed in the gorge 
poured death and slaughter into them. They cha'-ged 
within a few yards of the pieces, but our grape and 
canister, and the leaden hail of musketry, delivered in 
sparing but terrible volleys, from cartridges taken in 
many instances from the boxes of their fallen com- 
panions, was too much even for Longstreet's men. 
About sunset they made their last charge, when our 
men, being out of ammunition, moved on them with the 
bayonet, and they gave way, to return no more. In the 
meantime the enemy made repeated attempts to carry 
Gaieral Thonaas' position on the left and front, but were 
as often thrown back with great loss Near nightfall 



FROM SHILOH TO CHICKAMAUGA. 115 

the enemy fell back beyond the range of our artillery, 
leaving General Thomas victorious on the hard fought 
fieli.' 

"During the night, Gen. Thomas fell back to Ross- 
viUe, leaving the dead, and many of the wounded in the 
hands of the enemy. Gen. Sheridan, who had been cut 
off by the advance of the enemy, as he was upon the ex- 
treme right, gathered his brigades, and struck across Mis- 
sionary Ridge, directly to the west. The enemy were in 
possession of the country north of him. As he reached 
the top of the ridge, he caused the * assembly' to be blown, 
and picked up all the stragglers from the other divisions 
that he could find. He had lost three pieces of artillery, 
but in his progress met a whole battery which had been 
abandoned, and took it in charge. Passing the enemy's 
flank, and regaining the road on the ridge, he turned east 
through Rossville, and, without halting, re-enforced Gen. 
Thomas at midnight. The position near Rossville was 
held during Monday without serious molestation from the 
enemy, and in the night the entire force was withdrawn 
to Chattanooga." * 

In the battle of Chickamauga General Roseorans lost 
16,851 men (4,945 being captured), thirty-six pieces of 
cannon, and 8,450 small arms. The enemy's loss was 
18,000 (2,003 prisoners being taken by us). The battle 
was a terrible blow to us. The right and centre were 
totally defeated, and only the glorious stand made by 
the left wing under General Thomas saved the army 
from destruction or capture. 

After the battle, Bragg advanced to Missionary Ridge 

* " Army Operations." Anoual Encyclopaedia, 1863. 



116 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

and Lookout Mountain, investing the position of om 
army at Chattanooga, and cutting off its supplies. 

The part borne by General Garfield in this terrible 
battle was important and honorable. " He wrote every 
order issued that day — one only excepted. This he did 
rarely as an amanuensis, but rather on the suggestions of 
his own judgment, afterwards submitting what he had 
prepared to Rosecrans for approval or change. The one 
order which he did not write was the fatal order to Wood 
which lost the battle. The meaning was correct; the 
words, however, did not clearly represent what Rosecrans 
meant, and the division commander in question so inter- 
preted them as to destroy the right wing. 

" The general commanding and his chief of staff were 
caught in the tide of the disaster and borne back toward 
Chattanooga." The chief of staff was sent to communi- 
cate with Thomas, while the general proceeded to prepare 
for the reception of the routed army. 

" Such at least were the statements of the reports, 
and, in a technical sense, they were true. It should 
never be forgotten, however, in Garfield's praise, that it 
was on his own earnest representations that he was sent 
— that, in fact, he rather procured permission to go to 
Thomas, and so back into the battle, than received or- 
ders to do so. He refused to believe that Thomas was 
routed or the battle lost. He found the road environed 
with dangers ; some of his escort were killed, and they 
all narrowly escaped death or capture. But he bore 
to Thomas the first news that officer had received of the 
disaster on the right, and gave the information on which 
he was able to p.xtricate his command. At seven o'clock 



FROM SHILOH TO CHICKAMAUQA. 117 

that evening, under the personal supervision of General 
Gordon Granger and himself, a shotted salute from a 
battery of six Napoleon guns was fired into the woods 
after the last of the retreating assailants. They were 
the last shots of the battle of Chickamauga, and what was 
left of the Union army was master of the field. For the 
time the enemy evidently regarded himself as repulsed ; 
and Garfield said that night, and has always since main- 
tained, that there was no necessity for the immediate 
retreat on RossviUe." 

The Union army fell back to Chattanooga. General 
Garfield gave his best energies to the task of getting it 
into condition for further service. He ably seconded 
General Rosecrans in his efforts to hold his position 
against the Confederates who had advanced to Chat- 
tanooga and had laid siege to the place. After a few 
weeks of this service, he was sent to Washington by 
General Rosecrans as the bearer of despatches. On the 
18th of October General Rosecrans was removed from 
the command of the army of the Cumberland. Upon 
reaching Washington, General Garfield learned that he 
had been promoted by the President to the rank of 
major-general of volunteers, " for gallant and meritorious 
conduct at the battle of Chickamauga." 



CHAPTER V. 

GENERAL GARFIELD ENTERS CONGRESS. 

€f«Deral Garfield Elected to Congress from the Western Reserve District — 
Desires to Remain in the Army — His Reasons for Resigning his Com- 
mission and Entering Congress — Character of his District — Reasons foi 
his Election — Decides to Leave the Army — Enters Congress — Takes a 
Commanding Position in the House— Appointed to the Military Com- 
mittee — Estimate of him as one of the Leaders of the Republican Party 
— His Habits of Industry — His Mode of Rest — Mr. Long, of Ohio, pro- 
poses to Recognize the Southern Confederacy — A Brilliant Invective — 
An Impressive Scene in the House — Delight of the Republicans over 
Garfield's Reply — It Ensures his Success in the House — Mr. Garfield in 
Demand as a Speaker — The Inconvenience of being Too Ready an Orator 
— General Garfield's Account of Congress — Its History — Its Great Ser- 
vices — Its Intimate Connection with the People — How it has become the 
National Mouthpiece and Defender — Congress and the Constitution — 
Congress and the President — Congress and the People — A Statesman's 
Views, 

The battle of Chickamauga practically closed General 
Garfield's military career. A new field of service was 
now opened to him. In 1862, while he was still in the 
army, the people of his district elected him to Congress. 
This was a high compliment, for the district had been 
represented by men of great prominency in the Repub- 
lican party, and the people had come to expect a high 
degree of ability from their representative. General 
Garfield was strongly tempted to remain in the array. 
He had risen steadily to the grade of Major-General, and 



GENERAL GARFIELD ENTERS CONGRESS. 119 

had won a reputation that was both honorable and en- 
viable. He was highly esteemed by the Government, 
and was regarded by the War Department as one of the 
most trusted and competent officers in the service. Tt 
was very certain that he would be assigned to impor- 
tant commands in the future, and would renp additional 
honors and reputation. His future, indeed, promised to 
be a brilliant one. He was also a poor man, and his 
Major-General's pay was more tlian double the salary of 
a congressman. There were, therefore, many induce- 
ments to him to remain in the service. He thought 
the matter over enrnestly, and came to the conclusion 
that it was his duty to resign his commission and accept 
the seat in the House of Representatives to which he 
had been elected. He was one of those who thought 
that a few months more would end the war, and be- 
lieved that he could be spared from the field. He felt 
that, as his constituents had called him from the army 
and sent him to Congress, it was his duty to obey their 
wishes and take his seat. Moreover, his army friertds 
advised him urgently to enter Congress, as they believed 
that, coming fresh from the army and understanding its 
wants, he could Fender good service by promoting legis- 
lation calcuhited to maintain and improve the efficiency 
of the service. Influenced by these views, General Gar- 
fieli determined to sacrifice his own wishes, and on the 
5th of December, 1863, he resigned his commission, after 
nearly three years of service. He did this very reluc- 
tantly. 

The Congressional district in which General Garfield 
lived, was the Western Reserve of Ohio, and had long 



120 JAMES A. GARHELD. 

been represented by Joshua R. Giddinge, the veteran 
leader of the Free-soil party. Mr. Giddings was so 
regularly returned to Congress by his constituents that 
he finally came to regard his nomination and election as 
fixed beyond all doubt, and grew careless of his interests. 
This over-confidence led to his overthrow. In 1858 a 
Mr. Hutchins, an ambitious lawyer of the district, took 
advantage of Mr. Giddings' indifference, to carry the 
convention against him, and thus secured the nomination 
for himself. His election followed, as a matter of course. 
The friends of Mr. Giddings never forgave him for his 
course, and determined to put him out of Congress at the 
earliest practicable moment. Mr. Giddings, in the mean- 
time, was appointed Consul to Montreal, and was so well 
satisfied with his position that he did not care to make 
the fight necessary to get back to Congress. His sup 
porters, therefore, resolved to nominate General Garfield 
in his place, believing that his great popularity would 
make his election an easy matter. The convention, 
tiierefore nominated General Garfield, without askin"; his 
consent, and he was triumphantly elected by the people, 
as has been stated, in 1862. 

" When he heard of the nomination, Oarfield reflected 
that it would be fifteen months before the Congress to 
which he had been elected would meet, and believing, as 
did everyone else, that the war could not possibly last 
a year longer, concluded to accept. * I have often heard 
him,' says a friend, ' express regret that he did not help 
to fighl the war through, and say that he would never 
have left the army to go to Congress had he foreseen 
that the struggle would last beyond the year 1863.' " 



GENERAL GARFIELD ENTERS CONGRESS. 121 

Mr. Garfield took his seat in the House of Repre- 
sentatives in December, 1863. He was appointed a 
member of the committee on military affairs, of which 
General Schenck, who was also fresh from the army, 
was chairmaiL He did good service on this committee 
in helping to carry through the measures which re- 
usited the army and maintained its efficiency during the 
last years of the war. He knew the needs of the army 
thoroughly, and was always its faithful and judicious 
friend, so that he was enabled to render to his country 
quite as good service in the halls of Congress as he could 
have performed in the field. He was also appointed 
chairman of a select committee of seven charged with 
investigating alleged frauds in the money-printing bureau 
of the Treasury Department. He at once took and main- 
tained a commanding position in the House. He was 
known as a powerful speaker, remarkably ready and able 
in debate. A recent writer, referring to his position as 
one of the leaders of his party in the House, says : 

"As a leader in the House he is more cautious and 
less dashing than Blaine, and his judicial turn of mind 
makes him too prone to look for two sides of a ques- 
tion to be an efficient partisan. When the issue fairly 
touches his convictions, however, he becomes thoroughly 
aroused, and strikes tremendous blows. Blaine's tactics 
were to continually harass the enemy by sharp-shooting 
sui-prises and picket-firing. Garfield waits for an oppor- 
tunity to deliver a pitched battle, and his generalship is 
shown to the best advantage when the flight is a fair one 
and waged m grounds where each party thinks itself 
the strongest. Then his solid shot of argument are ex- 



122 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

ceedingly effective. On the stump Grarfield is one of 
the very best orators in the Republican party. He has 
a good voice, an air of evident sincerity, great clearness 
and vigor of statement, and a way of knitting his argu- 
ments together so as to make a speech deepen its im- 
pression on the mind of the hearer until the climax is 
reached. 

" Of his industry and studious habits a great deal 
might be said, but a single illustration will have to suffice 
here. Once during the busiest part of a very busy session 
at Washington I found him in his library, behind a big 
barricade of books. This was no unusual sight, but when 
I glanced at the volumes I saw that they were all differ- 
ent editions of Horace, or books relating to that poet. 'I 
find I am overworked and need recreation,' said the Gen- 
eral. ' Now, my theory is that the best way to rest the 
mind is not to let it be idle, but to put it at something 
quite outside of the ordinary line of its employment. So 
I am resting by learning all the Congressional libiary can 
show about Horace, and the various editions and transla- 
tions of his poems.' " 

One of General Garfield's most remarkable f peeches 
in the House, and one that secured his position as a leader 
in his party, was delivered within a few months after his 
entrance into Congress. On the 8th of April, 1864, Mr. 
Alexander Long, a representative from Ohio, delivered 
ftn exceedingly ultra Peace-Democratic speech, proposing 
^e recognition of the Southern Confederacy. The speech 
attracted to an unusual degree the attention of the House, 
And was listened to with indignation, the orator being al- 
lowed to state his whole case fully and fairly. It was 



GENERAL GARFIELD ENTERS CONGRESS. 123 

evident from General Garfield's manner that he meant to 
reply, and by common consent he was allowed to speak 
not only for himself, but for the great party to which he 
belonged. As soon as Mr. Long took his seat. General 
Garfield rose. In a few thrilling sentences he riveted the 
attention of the House, and held it throughout the whole 
of his brilliant invective. He had scarcely commenced to 
speak when the members from the remoter parts of the 
hall began to crowd around him and listen to him with 
breathless attention. The speech was as follows : 

" Mr. Chairman. — I should be obliged to you if you 
would direct the sergeant-at-arms to bring a white flag 
and plant it in the aisle between myself and my colleague 
who has just addressed you. 

" I recollect on one occasion when two great armies 
stood face to face, under a white flag just planted, I ap- 
proached a company of men dressed in the uniform of the 
rebel Confederacy, and reached out my hand to one of the 
number, and told him I respected him as a brave man. 
Though he wore the emblems of his disloyalty and trea- 
son, still underneath his vestments I beheld a brave and 
honest soul. 

" I would reproduce that scene here this afternoon. I 
say were there such a flag of truce — but God forgive me 
if I should do it under any other circumstances ! — I would 
reach out this right hand and ask that gentleman to take 
it, because I honor his bravery and honesty. I believe 
what has just fallen from his lips is the honest sentiment 
of his heart, and in uttering it he has made a new epoch 
in the history of this war ; he has done a new thing un- 
der the sun; he has done a brave thing. It is braver 



124 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

than to face cannon and musketry, and I honor him for 
his candor and frankness. 

" But now I ask you to take away the flag of truce, 
and I will go back inside the Union lines and speak of 
what he has done. I am reminded of it by a distin 
guished character in ' Paradise Lost.' When he had re- 
belled against the glory of God, and ' led away a third 
part of heaven's sons conjured against the Highest ;' when 
after terrible battles in which mountains and hills were 
hurled by each contending host * with jaculations dire ;' 
when, at last, the leader and his hosts were hurled ' nine 
times the space that measures day and night,' and aftei 
the terrible fall lay stretched prone on the burning lake, 
Satan lifted up his shattered hulk, crossed the abyss, 
looked down into paradise, and soliloquizing, said : 

" ' Which way I fly is hell ; myself am hell !' It seems 
to me he expressed the very sentiment to which you have 
just listened ; uttered by one no less brave, malign, and 
fallen. This man gathers up the meaning of this great 
contest, the philosophy of the moment, the prophecies of 
the hour, and in sight of the paradise of victory and peace, 
utters them all in this wail of terrible despair, ' Which 
way I fly is hell.' He ought to add, ' Myself am hell !" 

" Mr. Chairman, I am reminded by the occurrences of 
this afternoon of two characters in the war of the Revolu- 
tion, as compared with two others in the war of to-day. 

" The first was Lord Fairfax, who dwelt near the 
Potomac, a few miles from us. When the great contest 
was opened between the mother country and the colonies. 
Lord Fairfax, after a protracted struggle with his own 
heart, decided that he must go with the mother country. 



GENERAL GARFIELD ENTERS CONGRESS. 125 

He gathered his mantle about him and went over grandly 
and solemnly. 

" There was another man who cast in his lot with the 
struirolinir colonists, and continued with them till the war 
was wellnigh ended. In an hour of darkness that just 
preceded the glory of the morning, he hatched the trea- 
son to surrender forever all that had been gained to the 
enemies of his country. Benedict Arnold- was the man ! 

" Fairfax and Arnold find their parallel in the struggle 

of to-day. 

*' When this war began many good men stood hesitat- 
ing and doubting what they ought to do. Robert E. Lee 
sat in his house across the river here, doubting and de- 
laying, and going off at last almost tearfully to join the 
army of his State. He reminds one in some respects of 
Lord Fairfax, the stately royalist of the Revolution. 

" But now, when tens of thousands of brave souls 
have gone up to God under the shadow of the flag; 
when thousands more, maimed and shattered in the con- 
test, are sadly awaiting the deliverance of death ; now, 
when three years of terrific warfare have raged over us ; 
when our armies have pushed the Rebellion back over 
mountains and rivers, and crowded it into narrow limits, 
until a wall of fire girds it ; now, when the uplifted hand 
of a majestic people is about to hurl the bolts of its con- 
quering power upon the Rebellion ; now, in the quiet of 
this hall, hatched in the lowest depths of a similar dark 
treason, there rises a Benedict Arnold and proposes to 
surrender all up, body and spirit, the Nation and the Flag, 
its genius and its honor, now and forever, to the accursed 
traitors to our country ! And that proposition comes— 



126 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

God forgive and pity my beloved State ! — it comes from 
a citizen of the time honored and loyal Commonwealth of 
Ohio ! 

" I implore you, brethren, in this House, to believe 
that not many births ever gave pangs to my mother State 
such as she suffered when that traitor was born ! I beg 
you not to believe that on the soil of that State another 
such growth has ever deformed the face of nature and 
darkened the light of God's day. [An audible whisper, 
' Vallandigham.'] But, ah ! I am reminded that there 
are other such. My zeal and love for Ohio have carried 
me too far. I retract. I remember that only a few days 
since a political convention met at the capital of my 
State, and almost decided to select from just such ma- 
terial a representative for the Democratic party in the 
coming contest ; and to-day what claim to be a majority 
of the Democracy of that State say they have been 
cheated, or they would have made that choice. I, there- 
fore, sadly take back the boast I first uttered in behfilf of 
my native State. 

" But, sir, I will forget States. We have something 
greater than States and State pride to talk of here to- 
day. All personal or State feeling aside, I ask you 
what is the proposition which the ^nemy of his country 
has just made. What is it ? 

" For the first time in the history of this contest it is 
proposed in this hall, to give up the struggle, to abandon 
the war, and let treason run riot through the land ! 1 
will, if I can, dismiss feeling from my heart, and try to 
consider only what bears upon the logic of the speech to 
which we have just listened. 



GENERAL GARFIELD ENTERS CONGRESS. 127 

*' First of all, the gentleman tells us that the right of 
recession is a constitutional right. I do not propose to 
ynter into the argument. I have expressed myself hith- 
erto upon State rights and State sovereignty, of which 
this proposition of his is the legitimate child. 

" But the gentleman takes higher ground, and in that 
T agree with him — namely, that five million or eight mil- 
lion people possess the right of revolution. Grant it ; we 
agree there. If fifty-nine men can miike revolution sue 
cefisful, they have the right of revolution. If one State 
wishes to break its connection with the Federal Govern- 
ment, and does it by force, maintaining itself, it is an in- 
dependent State. If the eleven Southern States are 
determined and resolved to leave the Union, to secede, to 
revolutionize, and can maintain that revolution by force, 
they have the revolutionary right to do so. Grant it. I 
stand on that platform with the gentleman. 

" And now the question comes, is it our constitutional 
duty to let them do it ? That is the question, and in 
order to reach it, I beg to call your attention, not to an 
argument, but to the condition of affairs which would re- 
sult from such action — the mere statement of which be- 
comes the strongest possible argument. What does the 
gentleman propose ? Where will he draw the line of 
division ? If the rebels carry into successful secession 
what they desire to caiTyj if their revolution envelops 
as many States as they intend it shall envelop ; if they 
draw the line where Isham G. Harris, the rebel Governor 
of Tennessee, in the rebel camp near our lines, told Mr. 
Vallandigham they would draw it, along the line of the 
Ohio and of the Potomac j if they make good their state- 



128 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

inent to him that they will never consent to any other 
line, then, I ask, what is this thing the gentleman pro- 
poses to do? He proposes to leave the United States a 
territory reaching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and 
one hundred miles wide in the centre. From Wellsville, 
on the Ohio River, to Cleveland on the lakes is one hun- 
dred miles. T ask you, Mr. Chairman, if there be a man 
here so insane as to suppose that the American people 
will allow their magnificent proportions to be shorn to so 
deformed a shape as this ? 

" I tell you, and I confess it here, that while I hope 
I have something of human courage, I have not enough 
to contemplate such a result. I am not brave enough to 
go to the brink of the precipice of a successful secession, 
and look down into its damnable abyss. If my vision 
were keen enough to pierce its bottom, I would not dare 
to look. If there be a man here who dare contemplate 
such a scene, I look upon him either as the bravest of 
the sons of women, or as a downright madman. Secession 
to gain peace ! Secession is the tocsin of eternal war ! 
There can be no end to such a war as will be inaugurated 
if this thing be done. 

" Suppose the policy of the gentleman were adopted 
to-day. Let the order go forth ! Sound the ' recall ' on 
your bugles, and let it ring forth from Texas to the far 
Atlantic, and tell the armies to come back. Call the 
notorious legions back over the battle-fields of bI>od, 
forever now disgraced. Call them back over the terri- 
tory which they have conquered. Call them back, and 
let the minions of secession chase them with derisioD and 
j/^^rs as- they come. And then tell them that that man 



GENERAL GARFIELD ENTERS CONGRESS. 129 

across the aisle, from the free State of Ohio, gave birth to 
the monstrous proposition. 

" Mr. Chairman, if such a word should be sent forth 
through the armies of the Union, the wave of terrible 
vengeance that would sweep back over this land could 
never find a parallel in the records of history. Almost 
in the moment of final victory the ^recall' is sounded 
by a craven people not deserving freedom ! We ought, 
every man, to be made a slave, should we sanction such 
a sentiment. 

" The gentleman has told us there is no such thing 
as coercion justifiable under the constitution. I ask him 
for one moment to reflect that no statute was ever en- 
forced without coercion. It is the basis of every law in 
the universe— God's law as well as man's. A law is no 
law without coercion behind it. When a man has mur- 
dered his brother, coercion takes the murderer, tries him, 
and hangs him. When you levy your tavxes, coercion 
secures their collection. It follows the shadow of the 
thief, and brings him to justice ; it accompanies your di- 
plomacy to foreign courts, and backs the declaration 
of the nation's rights by a pledge of the nation's power. 
But when the life of that nation is imperilled, w« are told 
that it has no coercive power against the paracides in its 
own bosom ! Again, he tells us that oaths taken under 
the Amnesty Proclamation are good for nothing. The 
oath of Galileo, he says, was not binding upon him., I 
am reminded of another oath that was taken ; but per- 
haps it too was an oath on tlie lips alone, to which the 
heart made no response. 

" I remember to have stood in a Hne of nineteen men 
9 



130 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

from Ohio, on that carpet yonder, on the first day of 
the session, and I remember that, with uplifted hands, be- 
fore Almighty God, those nineteen toolv an oath to sup- 
port and maintain the Constitution of the United States. 
And I remember that another oath was passed around, 
and each member signed it as provided by law, utterly 
repudiating the Rebellion and its pretenses. Does the 
gentleman not blush to speak of Galileo's oath ? Was 
not his own its counterpart ? 

" He says the Union can never be restored because 
of the terrible hatred engendered by the war. To prove 
it he quoted what some Southern man said a few years 
ago, that he knew no hatred between peoples in the world 
like that betw^een the North and the South. And yet 
that North and South have been one nation for eighty- 
eight years. 

" IlaA^e "we seen in this contest anything more bitter 
than the wars of the Scottish Border? Have we seen 
anything bitterer than those terrible feuds in the days of 
Edward, when England and Scotland were the deadliest 
foes on earth ? And yet for centuries these countries 
have been cemented in an indissoluble union that has 
made the British nation one of the proudest of the earth ! 

" I said, a little while ago, that I accepted the propo- 
sition of the gentleman that the rebels had the right of 
revolution ; and the decisive issue between us and the 
Rebellion is, whether they shall revolutionize and de- 
stroy, or we shall subdue and preserve. We take the 
latter ground. We take the common weapons of war to 
meet them ; and if these be not sufficient I would take 
any element which will overwhelm and destroy. I would 



GENERAL GARFIELD ENTERS CONGRESS. 131 

sacrifice the clearest and best beloved; I would take 
all the old sanctions of law and the constitution and 
fling them to the winds, if necessary, rather than let 
the nation be broken in pieces, and its people destroyed 
with endless ruin. 

" What is the constitution that these gentlemen per- 
petually fling in our faces whenever we desire to strike 
hard blows against the Rebellion ? It is the production 
ol the American people. They made it, and the creator 
is mightier than the creature. The power which made 
the constitution can also make other instruments to do 
its great work in the day of its dire necessity." 

This speech, which was delivered on the spur of the 
moment in reply to an elaborately prepared argument, 
at once placed General Garfield in the front rank of 
Republican leaders, and from this time he ranked as one 
of the readiest and most brilliant Republican speakers. 
" This standing he never lost. It was, however, to 
prove in some respects injurious to his rising fame. 
He spoke so readily that members were constantly ask- 
ing his services in behalf of favored measures ; and in 
the impulsive eagerness of a 3^oung man and a young 
member, he often consented. He thus came to be too 
frequent a speaker ; and by and by the House wearied 
a little of his polished periods and began to think him 
too fond of talking. After a time this little reaction in 
the general feeling of the House toward him wore off." 
" His superior knowledge," says another writer, " used 
to offend some of his less learned colleagues at first. 
They thought him bookish and pedantic until Uiey 
found how solid and useful was his store of knowledge, 



132 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

and how pertinent to the business in hand were thfl 
drafts he made upon it. His genial personal ways soon 
made him many warm friends in Congress. The men of 
brains in both houses and in the departments were not 
long in discovering that here was a fresh, strong intel- 
lectual force that was destined to make its mark upon 
the politics of the country. They sought his acquaint- 
ance, and before he had been long in Washington he 
had the advantage of the best society of the capital." 

In view of his long service in the popular House of 
Congress, and his certain elevation to the executive 
chair, General Garfield's views respecting the proper 
position of Congress in our system of government, its 
rights and duties, and its relations to the other branches 
of the Government, are of the greatest importance to his 
countrymen, and will be read by them with the deepest 
interest. He thus stated them in an article contributed 
by him to the "Atlantic Monthly " for July, 1877 : 

" We have seen the close of our memorial year, dur- 
ing which societies, the States, and the nation have been 
revicAving the ^completed century and forecasting the 
character of that which has just begun. 

" Our people have been tracing the footprints of the 
fathers along the many paths which united to form the 
great highway whereon forty millions of Americans are 
now marching. If we would profit by the great lessons 
of the centennial year, we must study thoughtfully and 
reverently the elements and forces that have made the 
Republic what it is, and which will in a great measure 
shape and direct its future. 

" No study of these themes can lead to a just view of 



GENERAL GARFIELD ENTERS CONGRESS. 133 

our institutions which does not include within its range a 
survey of the history and functions of 

THE AMERICAN CONGRESS. 

" Indeed, the history of liberty and union in this 
country, as developed by their successors, is inseparably 
connected with the history of the national legislature. 
Nor can they be separated in the future. The Union and 
Congress must share the same fate. They must rise or 
fall together. 

" The germ of our political institutions, the primary 
cell from which they were evolved, was the New England 
town ; and the vital force, the improving soul of the town 
was the town meeting, which for all local concerns was 
king, lords and commons in one. It was the training 
school in which our fathers learned the science and the 
art of self-governiTient, the school which has made us the 
most parliamentary people on the globe. 

" In what other quarter of the world could such a 
phenomenon have been witnessed as the creation of the 
government of California in 1849, when out of the most 
heterogeneous and discordant elements a constitution and 
body of laws were formed and adopted which challenge 
comparison with those of the oldest governments in the 
world ? This achievement was due to the law making 
habit of Americans. The spirit of the town meeting 
guided the colonies in their aspirations for independence, 
und finally created the Union. The Congress of the 
Union is the most general and comprehensive expression 
of this legislative habit of our people. 

" The materials for tracing the origin of Congress are 



134 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

scanty ; but they are sufficient to show the spirit which 
gave it birth. 

" The idea of a Congress on this continent sprang 
from the necessity of union among the colonies for mutual 
protection; and the desire for union logically expressed 
itself in an intercolonial representative assembly. Every 
such assembly in America has been a more or less marked 
symbol of union. 

AMERICAN UNIOK 

'* The first decisive act of union among the colonists 
was the convention of 1690, at New York. The revolu- 
tion of 1689 in England, resulted in immediate and des- 
perate war between that country and France, and soon 
involved the British and French colonies of America. 
The French of Canada, aided by the northern Indians, 
determined to carry the flag of Louis XIV. down the 
valley of the Hudson, and thus break in twain the British 
colonies. To meet this danger and to retaliate upon 
France, the General Court of Massachusetts, ever watch- 
ful of the welfare of its people, addressed letters of invi- 
tation to the neighboring colonies, asking them to appoint 
commissioners to meet and consult for the common de- 
fence. These commissioners met in convention, at New 
York, on the 1st of May, 1690, and determined to rais6 
an " army " of eight hundred and fifty-five men, from the 
five colonies of New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, 
Plymouth, and Maryland, to repel the threatened invasion 
ttud to capture Canada in the name of William and Mary.* 

* Doc History of New York, vol. ii., page 339, and Bancroft's History 
woL iii., page 183. 



GENERAL GARFIELD ENTERS CONGRESS. 1?>5 

Some of our historians have called this meeting of eoni- 
missioners ' the first American Congress.' I find no 
evidence that the name ' Congress ' was then applied to 
that assembly ; though it is doubtless true that its or- 
ganization and mode of procedure contained the germ of 
the future Congress. 

" The New York convention called upon each of the 
five colonies for its quota of troops for the little army, 
and intrusted the management of the campaign to a board 
or council of war consisting of one officer from each col- 
ony. The several quotas were proportioned to the popu- 
lation of the several colonies, while the great and small 
colonies had an equal voice in directing the expedition. 
Here, in embryo, was the duplex system of popular and 
State representation. 

THE FIRST AMERICAN CONGRESS. 

" Sixty-four years later, a convention of commission- 
ers from 'seven of the colonies met at Albany and called 
themselves a ' Congress.' So far as 1 have been able to 
discover, this was the first American assembly which 
called itself by that name. It was probably adopted be- 
cause the convention bore some resemblance to that 
species of European international convention which in the 
language of diplomacy was called a congress. 

" In order to obtain a clearer view of this important 
Albany Congress of 1754, we must understand the events 
which immediately preceded it. 

"In 1748, in obedience to orders from England, the 
governors of the northern colonies met at Albany to con- 
clude a treaty of peace with the Six-Nations. After thL«. 



136 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

was accomplished, the governors, sitting in secret coun- 
cil, united in a complaint that their salaries were not 
promptly and regularly paid, but that the colonial legisla- 
tures insisted upon the right to determine, by annual ap- 
propriations, the amounts to be paid. 

" This petition, forwarded to the dissolute Duke of 
Bedford, then at the head of the colonial administration, 
was answered by a royal order directing the governors to 
demand from the colonial legislatures the payment of 
fixed salaries for a term of years, and threatening that 
if this were not done. Parliament would impose upon the 
colonies a direct tax for that purpose. Thus the first 
overt act which led to the Pvevolution was a demand for 
higher salaries ; and, on the motion of the colonial gov- 
ernors at Albany, the British Board of Trade opened th« 
debate in favor of parliamentary supremacy. Six years 
later came the reply from seven colonies through the 
Albany Congress of 1754. 

" War with France was again imminent. Her battal- 
ions had descended the Ohio, and were threatening the 
northern frontier. The colonial governors called upon 
the legislatures to send commissioners to Albany to se- 
cure the alliance of the Six-Nations against the French, 
and to adopt measures for the common defence. On the 
19th of June, 1754, twenty-five commissioners met at 
the little village of Albany, and, following the example of 
the governors who met there six years before, completed 
their treaty with "the Indians, and then opened the ques- 
tion of a colonial union for common defence. 

" Foremost ;imong the commissioners was Benjamin 
Franklin; and through his voice and pen the Congress 



GENERAL GARFIELD ENTERS CONGRESS. 137 

and the colonies replied to the demands of England by 
proposing a plan of union to be founded upon the rights 
of the colonies as Englishmen. If his plan had been 
adopted, independence might have been delayed for half 
a century. Curiously enough, it was rejected by the 
colonies as having ' too much of the prerogative in it,' and 
by England as having ^ too much of the democratic' 

"But the talismanic words "^ Union' and * Congress' 
had been spoken, and from that hour were never forgot- 
ten. The argument for colonial rights had also been 
stated in the perfect style of Franklin, and was never to 
be answered. 

THE CONGRESS OF 1765. 

" The second assembly which called itself a tJongress 
met at New York in 1765. The mercantile policy of 
England, embodied in the long series of navigation acts, 
had finally culminated in Lord Grenville's stamp act and 
the generd assertion of the right of Parliament to tax the 
colonies in all cases whatsoever. Again Massachusetts 
led the movement for union and resistance. On the 6th 
of June, 1765, her legislature adopted a resolution, of- 
fered by James Otis, to call a congress of delegates of 
the thirteen colonies, ' to consult together ' and ' consider 
of a united representation to implore relief.' This call 
was answered by every colony, and on the 7th of Octo- 
ber, 1765, twenty-seven delegates met at New York, and 
sleeted Timothy Ruggles, of Massachusetts, chairman. 

" There for the first time James Otis saw John Dick- 
inson; there Gadsden and Rutledge sat beside Livingston 
iiid Dyer ; there the brightest minds of America joined 



138 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

in the discussion of their common danger and common 
rights. The session lasted eighteen days. Its delibera- 
tions were most solemn and momentous. Loyalty to the 
crown and a shrinking dread of opposing established au 
thority were met by the fiery spirit which glowed in the 
breasts of the boldest thinkers. Amidst the doubt and 
hesitation of the hour, John Adams gave voice to the 
logic and spirit of the crisis when he said, * You have 
rights antecedent to all earthly governments ; rights that 
cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws ; rights 
derived from the great Lawgiver of the universe.' 

" Before adjourning they drafted and adopted a series 
of masterly addresses to the king, to the Parliament, to 
the people of England, and to their brethren of the colo- 
nies. They had formulated the thoughts of the people, 
and given voice to their aspirations for liberty. That 
Congress was indeed 'the day-star of the Revolution;' 
for though most of its members were devotedly loval to 
the crown, yet, as Bancroft has said, some, like James 
Otis, as they went away from that Congress, ' seemed to 
hear the prophetic song of the sibyls chanting the spriiig- 
time of a new empire.' 

THE CONTINENTAL CONGEESS OF 1774. 

"Nine more years of supplication and neglect, of 
ministerial madness and stubborn colonial resistance, 
bring us to the early autumn of 1774, when the Conti- 
nental Congress was assembling at Philadelphia. This 
time, the alarm had been sounded by New York, that a 
sister colony was being strangled by the heavy hand of a 
despotic ministry. The response was immediate and al 



GENERAL GARFIELD ENTERS CONGRESS. 139 

most unanimous. From eleven colonies came the fore 
most spirits to take counsel for the common weal. From 
the assaulted colony came Samuel and John Adams, 
Cushing and Paine. They set out from Boston in Au- 
gust, escorted by great numbers as far as Watertovvn. 
Their journey was a solemn and triumphant march. The 
men of Hartford met them with pledges to ^ abide by the 
resolves which Congress might adopt/ and accompanied 
them to Middletown with carriages and a cavalcade. The 
bells of New Haven welcomed them, and Roger Sherman 
addressed them. After visiting the grave of the regi- 
cide Bidwell, they left New Haven to be received at New 
York by the ' Sons of Liberty,' who attended them across 
the Hudson. Everywhere they were exhorted to be true 
to the honor of England and the liberties of America.* 

" With them, from New York and New England, came 
Jay and Livingston, Sherman and Deane, Hopkins and 
Duane. From the south came Washington and Henry, 
Randolph and Lee, Gadsden and Rutledge, and many 
other names now familiar; in all fifty-live men, sent oy 
eleven colonies. 

" On Monday, the 5th of September, 1774, they met 
at Smith's Tavern, in Philadelphia, and proceeded in a 
body to the Hall of the Carpenters. With what dignity 
and solemnity they l3egan their work! Choosing for 
president Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, and for secre- 
tary the gentle and learned Charles Thomson, the trans- 
lator of the Septuagint and the Greek Testament, they 
formally declared themselves 'the Congress,' and their 
chairman 'the President.' And how soon the spirit of 

* Bancroft, vol. vii., cliaps. 8, 9. 



140 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

union, in the presence of a common danger, began to 
melt down the sharp differences of individual opinion ! 

" The first psalm and prayer to which that Congress 
listened sounded like a chapter of history and prophecy 
combined. The psalm was not selected for the occasion, 
but was a part of the regular Episcopal service for that 
day, the 7th of the month : ' Plead thou my cause, 
Lord, with them that strive with me, and fight thou 
against them that fight against me. Lay hand upon the 
shield and buckler, and stand up to help me. Bring forth 
the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute 
me. Let them be turned back and brought to confusion 
that imagine mischief for me. Let them be as the dust 
before the wind, and let the angel of the Lord scatter 
them.' When the minister had ended the formal service, 
the spirit of the occasion burst forth from his lips in these 
memorable words of prayer : ' Look down upon these 
American States who have fled to thee from the rod of 
the oppressor, and have thrown themselves on thy pre- 
cious protection, desiring to be henceforth dependent only 
on thee ; to thee they have appealed for the. righteous- 
ness of their cause.' 

" What would we not give for a complete record of 
"he proceedings of that Congress ! It sat with closed 
doors, with no reporters, and made no official record ex- 
cept the brief journal of motions and votes. To this 
journal, to private letters, and tradition, we are indebted 
for all we know of its proceedings. 

" The delegates were clothed with no legislative pow- 
ers. They could only consult and recommend. But 
i:hey held higher commissions than any which can be em- 



GENERAL GARFIELD ENTERS CONGRESS. 141 

bodied in formal credentials. It was their high duty to 
formulate the thoughts and express the aspirations of the 
New World. Yet no organized body of men ever direct- 
ed with more absolute sway the opinions and conduct of 
a nation. 

" As a reply to the Boston Port Bill, they requested 
all merchants and traders to send to Great Britain for no 
more goods until the sense of the Congress should be 
taken on the means for preserving the liberties of Amer- 
ica. And this request was at once complied with. 
Knowing that the conduct of England was inspired by 
greed, that she had adopted the shopkeepers' policy, 
Congress resolved that, after a given date, the colonies 
would not buy from England nor sell to her merchants 
any commodity whatever, unless before that date the 
grievances of America should be redressed. And public 
sentiment rigidly enforced the resolution. With more 
distinctness and solemnity tlian ever before, the cause of 
the colonists, based on the inalienable laws of nature and 
the principles of the English constitution, was declared in 
addresses to the king, to the Parliament, and to the peo- 
ple of America ; and, recommending that a new Congress 
be called the following spring, the Congress of 1774 ad- 
i journed, without day, on the 14th of October. The most 
striking fact connected with that Congress is that its res- 
olutions were obeyed as though they had been clothed 
with all the sanctions of law. I doubt whether any law 
of Congress or of any State legislature has been so fully 
obeyed, in letter and spirit, as were the recommendations 
of the Continental Congress of 1774. But its action 
had been far from unanimous. There were strong men, 



142 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

like Jay, who were conservative by nature and culture, 
and who restrained the more fiery enthusiasm of Henry 
and Adams ; there were timid members who shrank 
from a contest with the royal authority ; and there were 
traitors to the cause, who, like Galloway, secured a seat 
that they might more effectively serve the king as a 
royal spy. 

"The resolves of that Congress and its address to 
the colonies were potent educating forces which prepared 
the people for a great struggle. 

" Franklin was in England at that time, as the agent 
of the colonies, and presented the petitions of Congress. 
Parliament answered by declaring Massachusetts in re- 
bellion. The king replied by sending an army to Boston 
and by offering to protect all loyal Americans, but order- 
ing all others to be treated as traitors and rebels. 

THE CONGRESS OF THE EEVOLUTION AND OF THE 

CONFEDERATION". 

"On the 10th of May, 1775, on the morning of the 
capture of Ticonderoga by Ethan Allen, the second 
Continental Congress assembled at Philadelphia. The 
conduct of the king and Parliament, and the events at 
Boston, Lexington, and Concord, had already demon- 
strated the impossibility of reconciliation. It is difficult 
to imagine a situation more perplexing and more peril- 
ous than that which confronted the fifty-four members 
of the Congress of 1775. Their jurisdiction and powers 
were vague and uncertain ; they were, in fact, only com- 
mittees from twelve colonies, deputed to consult upon 
measures of conciliation, but with no means of resistance 



GENERAL GARFIELD ENTERS CONGRESS. 143 

to oppression beyond the voluntary agreement to sus- 
pend importations from Great Britain. " They formed no 
confederacy. They were not an executive government. 
They were not even a legislative body. They owed the 
use of a hall for their sessions to the courtesy of the 
carpenters of the city ; there was not a foot of land on 
which they had a right to execute their decisions, and 
they had not one civil officer to carry out their com- 
mands, nor the power to appoint one.' They had no 
army, no treasury, no authority to tax, no right but to 
give counsel. ' They represented only the unformed 
opinion of an unformed people.' 

" Yet that body was to undertake the great argument 
of reason with the foremost statesmen of Europe, and the 
greater argument of war with the first military power of 
the world. That Congress was to consolidate the vast 
and varied interests of a continent, express the will and 
opinion of three millions of people, and, amid the wreck 
and chaos of ruined colonial governments, rear the solid 
superstructure of a great republic. Strange as it now 
seems to us, timidity and conservatism controlled its ac- 
tion for nearly a year. The tie of affection that bound 
the colonists to England was too strong to be rudely sev- 
ered. They deluded themselves by believing that while 
the tory party was their enemy, England was still their 
friend. Though their petition had been spurned with 
contempt, yet they postponed the most pressing neces- 
fdties of the time in order to send a second humble pe- 
liion and await an answer. After all, this dehiy was 
wise; the slow process of growth was going forward 
.nd could not be hastened. It was necessary that all 



144 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

thoughtful men should see the hopelessness of reconcilia- 
tion. It was necessary that the Dickinsons and the Jays 
should be satisfied. In the meantime, Congress was not 
idle ; it was laying the foundation of the structure soon 
to he reared. In its proceedings, we find the origin of 
many customs which still prevail. On the 15th of May, 
1775, it was ordered ' that this body will to-morrow re- 
solve itself into a committee of the whole, to take into 
consideration the state of America." This formula, 
modified only by the change of a single word, still de- 
scribes the act by which each branch of our Congress 
resolves itself into *a committee of the whole on the 
state of the Union.' 

" On the 31st of May, 1775, on motion of Dr. Frank- 
lin, a committee was appomted to provide for ' estab- 
lishing post for conveying letters and intelligence through 
the continent.' Franklin was made chairman of the 
committee, and thus became, in fact, the first postmaster- 
general of the United States. 

" By resolution of June 14, 1775, Washington was 
made the chairman of our first committee on military 
affairs. 

"On the 27th of May, 1775, it was resolved that 
Mr. Washington, Mr. Schuyler, Mr. Mifflin, Mr. Deane, 
and Mr. Samuel Adams be a committee to consider of 
ways and means to supply these colonies with ammu- 
nition and military stores. Thus Washington was the 
chairman of our first committee of ways and means. 

" While Congress was waiting for the king's answer 
to its second petition, Franklin revived the .'plan of 
union' which he had suggested twenty-one years before, 



GENERAL GARFIELD ENTERS CONGRESS. 145 

at the Albany Congress, and which finally, with a few 
changes, became the Articles of Confederation. 

" It was not until the spring of 1776 that the action 
of the British Government destroyed all hopes of recon- 
ciliation ; and when, at last, the great declaration was 
adopted, both the colonies and the Congress saw that 
their only safety lay in the boldest measures. By the 
Declaration of Independence, the sovereignty of the col- 
onies was withdrawn from the British crown and lodged 
in the Continental Congress. No one of the colonies 
was ever independent or sovereign. No one colony de- 
clared itself independent of Great Britain ; nor was the- 
declaration made by all the colonies together as colo- 
nies.* It was made in the name and by the authority 
of the good people of the colonies as one nation. By 
that act they created, not independent States, but an in- 
dependent nation, and named it ' The United States of 
America ;' and, by the consent of the people, the sover • 
eignty of the new nation was lodged in the Continental 
Congress. This is true, not only in point of law, but as 
a historical fact. The Congress became the only legis- 
lative, executive, and judicial power of the nation; the 
army became the army of the Continental Congress. One 
of its regiments, which was recruited from the nation 
generally, was called, ' Congress's Own,' as a sort of reply 
to the ' King's Own,' a royal regiment stationed at Bos- 
ton. OiTicers were commissioned by Congress, and were 
sworn to obey its orders. The president of Congress 
was the chief executive officer of the nation. The chair- 
men of committees were heads of the executive departs 

* Von Hoist's " Constitutional Historj of the United States," page 6. 



146 JAMES A. GARFIELD, 

nients. A committee sat as judges in admiralty and 
prize cases. The power of Congress was unlimited by 
any law or regulation, except the consent of the people 

themselves. 

" On the first day of March, 1781, the Articles of 
Confederation, drafted by Congress, became the law of 
the land. But the functions of Congress were so slightly 
changed that we may say, with almost literal truth, that 
the Continental Congress which met on the 10th of May, 
1775, continued unchanged in its character, and held an 
almost continuous session for thirteen years. 

" ' History knows few bodies so remarkable. The 
' Long Parliament of Charles I. and the French National 
Assembly of the last century are alone to be compared 
with it.' Strange as it may appear, the acts of the Con- 
tinental Congress which finally brought most disaster to 
the people, were those which gave to Congress its chief 
* power. With no authority to levy direct taxes. Congress 
had but one resource for raising revenue : forced loans, 
in the form of bills of credit. And, so long as the Con- 
tinental money maintained a reasonable share of credit, 
Congress was powerful. It was able to pay its army, 
its officers, and its agents, and thus to tide over the mobt 
difficult period of the Revolution. 

" Great and conspicuous as were the services of the 
Continental Congress, it did not escape the fate which ha,s 
pursued its successors. Jealousy of its poAver was mani- 
fested in a thousand ways ; and the epithet " King Cong" 
was the byword of reproach during the latter half of the 
war. The people could not hear with patience that the 
members of Congress were living in comfort while the 



GENERAL GARFIELD ENTERS CONGRESS. 147 

soldiers were starving and freezing at Valley Forge. 
They accused Congress of weakness, indecision, and de- 
lay ; of withholding its full confidence from Washington ; 
and finally of plotting to supersede him by assigning an 
ambitious rival to his place. It is no doubt true that 
some intriguing members favored this disgraceful and 
treacherous design ; but they would not have been repre- 
sentative men if all had been patriots and sages. 

"The Continental Congress was a migratory body, 
compelled sometimes to retire before the advance of the 
British army, and sometimes to escape the violence of 
the mob who assaulted its doors and demanded appro- 
priations. Beginning its session in Philadelphia, it took 
refuge in Baltimore before the end of 1776. Later, it 
returned to Philadelphia; went thence to Lancaster; 
thence to York ; then again to Philadelphia ; thence, in 
succession, to Princeton, to Annapolis, and to Trenton ; 
and finally terminated its career in the city of New York! 

" The estimation in which that Congress was held is 
the best gauge by which to judge of the strength and 
weakness of our government under the confederation. 
While the inspiration of the war fired the hearts of the 
people, Congress was powerful ; but when the victory 
was won, and the long arrears of debts and claims came 
up for payment, the power of Congress began to wane. 
Smitten with the curse of poverty and the greater curse 
of depreciated paper money, loaded with debts they could 
not pay, living as "pensioners on the bounty of France, 
insulted and scouted at by the pubHc creditors, unable to 
fulfil the treaties they had made, bearded and encroached 
111 ->n by the State authorities, finally begging for addi- 



148 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

tional authority which the States refused to grant, thrown 
more and more into the shade by the very contrast of 
former power, the Continental Congress sank fast into 
decrepitude and contempt."* 

" During the last three or four years of its existence, 
few men of first-class abilities were willing to serve as 
members. It was difficult to secure the attendance of 
those who were elected; and when a quorum was ob- 
tained, it was impossible, under the articles of confedera- 
tion, to accomplish any worthy work. Even after the 
adoption of the new constitution, the old Congress was 
so feeble that for many months it was doubtful whether 
it had enough vitality left to pass the necessary ordi- 
nance appointing the day for the presidential election and 
the day for putting the new government in motion. 

" With a narrowness and selfishness almost incredible, 
the old Congress wrangled and debated and disagreed for 
weeks and months before they could determine where 
the new government should find its temporary seat. 

" It is sad to reflect that a body whose early record 
was so glorious should be doomed to drag out a feeble 
existence for many months, and expire at last without 
a sign, with not even the power to announce its own dis- 
solution. 

" I have always regarded our national constitution as 
the most remarkable achievement in the history of legis- 
lation. As the weakness of the old confederation became 
more apparent, the power of the separate States became 
greater, and the difficulties of union were correspondingly 
increased. It needed all the appreciation of common 

* Bildreth, vol. iii., page 547. 



GENERAL GARFIELD ENTERS CONGRESS. 149 

danger, springing from such popular tumults as Shay's 
Rebellion, all the foreign complications that grew out of 
the weakness of the confederation, and finally, all the 
authority of the fathers of the Revolution, with Washing- 
ton at their head, to f»ame the constitution and to secure 
its adoption. We are apt to forget how near our govern- 
ment was brought to the verge of chaos, and to forget by 
how small a vote the constitution was adopted in many 
of ■ the States. Only in Delaware, New Jersey, and 
Georgia was the vote unanimous. Even Massachusetts 
gave it but a majority of nineteen out of a vote of three 
hundred and fifty-six. In Virginia it received but ten 
majority, in New Hampshire eleven, and in Pennsylvania 
twenty-three. These votes disclose the strength of the 
political parties, federal and anti-federal, to which the 
constitution gave birth. This brings us to 

THE CONGRESS OF THE CONSTITUTION, 

which began its first session at New York, on the 4th of 
March, 1789. 

" Fears were entertained that some of the States 
might neglect or refuse to elect senators and representa- 
tives. Three States had hitherto refused to adopt the 
constitution. More than a month passed before a quorum 
of the Senate and House appeared in New York ; but on 
the 6th of April, 1789, a quorum of both houses met in 
joint session and witnessed the opening and counting of 
the votes for President and Vice-President by John Lang- 
don. Having dispatched the venerable Charles Thomson, 
late secretary of the old Congress, to Mount Vernon, to 
uiform Washington of his election, the new Congress 



150 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

addressed itself to the great work required by the consti 
tution. The three sessions of the first Congress lasted 
in the aggregate five hundred and nineteen days, exceed- 
ing by more than fifty days the sessions of any subse- 
quent Congress. It was the high duty of this body to 
interpret the powers conferred upon it by the constitu- 
tion, and to put in motion not only the machinery of the 
Senate and House, but the more complex machinery of 
the executive and judicial departments. 

" It is worth while to observe with what largeness of 
comprehension and minuteness of detail the members of 
that Congress studied the problems before them. While 
Washington was making his way from Mount Vernon to 
New York, they were determining with what ceremonials 
he should be received, and with what formalities the in- 
tercourse between the President and the Congress should 
be conducted. A joint committee of both houses met 
him on the Jersey shore, in a richly furnished barge, and 
landing at the Battery, escorted him to the residence 
which Congress had prepared and furnished for his recep- 
tion. Then came the question of the title by which he 
should be addressed. The Senate insisted that *a decent 
respect for the opinion and practice of civilized nations 
required a special title,' and proposed that the Presi- 
dent should be addressed as ' His Highness the Presi- 
dent of the United States of America, and Protector of 
their Liberties.' At the earnest remonstrance of the more 
Republican house, the Senate gave way, and finally agreed 
that he should be addressed simply as * the President of 
the United States.' 

" It was determined that the President should, in per- 



GENERAL GARFIELD ENTERS CONGRESS. 151 

1 

6on, deliver his ' annual speech,' as it was then called, to 
the two houses in joint session; and that each house 
should adopt an address in reply, to be delivered to the 
President at his official residence. 

*^ These formalities were manifestly borrowed from 
the practice of the British Parliament, and were main- 
tained until near the close of Jefferson's administration. 

" Communications from the executive departments 
were also to be made to the two houses by the heads of 
those departments in person. This custom was unfor- 
tunately swept away by the Republican reaction which 
set in a few years later. 

"Among questions of ceremony were also the rules 
by which the President should regulate his social rela- 
tions to citizens. Washington addressed a long letter of 
inquiry to John Adams, and to several other leading 
statesmen of that time, asking their advice on this sub- 
ject. The inquiry resulted in the conclusion that the 
President should be under no obligation to make or re- 
turn any social call; but regular days were appointed, 
on which the President should hold levees and thus 
maintain social intercourse with his fellow-citizens. At 
these assemblages the President and Mrs. Washington 
occupied an elevated dais, and introductory ceremonies 
of obeisance and salutation were carefully prescribed. 

" Not less curious, as indicating the spirit of that 
time, were the formalities of intercourse between the 
two branches of Congress. When a communication was 
sent from one house to the other, the messenger was 
required to make his obeisance as he entered the bar, 
a second as he delivered his message to the presiding 



152 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

officer, a third after its delivery, and a final obeisance as 
lie retired from the hall. It was much debated whether 
the members of each house should remain standing while 
a communication was being delivered from the other. 
These formalities were subsequently much abridged, 
though traces of them still remain. 

*' In adopting its rules of procedure, the House pro- 
vided, among other things, that the sergeant-at-arms 
should procure a proper symbol of his office, of such 
form and device as the speaker should direct, to be 
pkced on the table during the sitting of the House, but 
wide?' the table when the House is in committee of the 
whole; said symbol to be borne by the sergeant-at-arms 
when executing the commands of the House during its 
sitting. This symbol, now called the speaker's mace, 
modelled after the Roman fasces, is a bundle of ebony 
rods, fastened with silver bands, having at its top a 
silver globe surmounted by a silver eagle. In the red- 
republican period of Jefferson's administration, an at- 
tempt was made to banish the mace ; and a zealous 
economist in the House of Representatives proposed to 
melt down and coin its silver, and convert the proceeds 
into the treasury. The motion failed, however, and the 
mace still holds its place at the right hand of the 
speaker, when the House is in session. 

'' The House conducted its proceedings with open 
doors ; but the Senate, following the exanjple of the 
Continental Congress, held all sessions in secret until 
near the end of the second Congress. Since then its 
doors have been closed during executive sessions only. 

" It is greatly to the credit of the eminent men who 






GENERAL GARFIELD ENTERS CONGRESS. 



15^ 



sat in the first Consrress that thev deliberated lonpj and 
carefully before they«completed any work of legislation. 
They had been in session four months when their first 
bill, ' relating to the time and manner of administering 
certain oaths,' became a law. Then followed in quick 
succession the great statutes of the session : to provide 
a revenue to fill the empty treasury of the nation; to 
create the department of the treasury, the department of 
foreign affairs, the department of war ; to create an 
army ; to regulate commerce ; to establish the govern- 
ment of our vast territory ; and, that mohumcnt of ju- 
ridical learning, the act to establish the judiciary of the 
United States. 

"I must not omit from this summnry the ninth 
statute in the order of time, the * act for the establish- 
ment and support of light-houses, beacons, buoys, and 
public piers.' As an example of broad-minded states- 
manship on the subject, that statute stands alone in the 
legislative history of the last century. Everywhere else 
the commerce of the ocean was annoyed and obstructed 
by unjust and vexatious light-house charges. But our 
first Congress, in a brief statute of four sections, provided 
*that from the 15th day of August, 1789, all the light- 
houses, beacons, buoys, and public piers of the United 
States shall be maintained at the expense of the national 
treasury.' From that date the lights of our coast have 
shone free,as the sunlight for all the ships of the world. 

" Great as were the merits of that first Congress, it 
was not free from many of the blemishes which have 
clouded the fame of its successors. It dampens not a 
little our enthusiasm for the ' superior virtues of the 



154 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

fathers/ to learn that Hamilton's monument of statesman- 
ship, the funding bill, which gave life to the public credit 
and saved from dishonor the war debts of the States, was 
for a time hopelessl}'' defeated by the votes of one sec- 
tion of the Union, and was carried at last by a legisla- 
tive bargain, which in the mildest slang of our day 
would be called a ' log-rolling job.' The bill fixing the 
permanent seat of the government on the banks of the 
Potomac was the argument which turned the scale and 
carried the funding bill. The bargain carried them both' 
through. Nor were demagogues of the smaller type un- 
known among our fathers. For example, when a joint 
resolution was pending in the house of the first Con- 
gress to supply each member at the public expense with 
copies of all the newspapers published in New York, 
an amendment was ofi'ered to restrict the supply to one 
paper for each member, the preamble declaring that 
this appropriation was made 'because newspapers, be- 
ing highly beneficial in disseminating useful knowledge, 
are delerving of public encouragement by Congress.' 
That is, the appropriation was not to be made for the 
benefit of members, but to aid and encourage the press ! 
The proprietors of our great dailies would smile at this 
patriotic regard for their prosperity. It is scarcely ne- 
cessary to add that the original resolution passed with- 
out the amendment. 

" Whatever opinions we may now enter^in of the 
federalists as a party, it is unquestionably true that we 
are indebted to them for the strong points of the con- 
stitution, and for the stable government they founded 
and strengthened during the administrations of Washing 



GENERAL GARFIELD ENTERS CONGRESS. 155 

ton and Adams. Hardly a month passed, during that 
period, in which threats of disunion were not made witL 
more or less vehemence and emphasis. But the founda- 
tions of national union and prosperity had been so wisely 
and deeply laid that succeeding revolutions of public 
opinion failed to destroy them. 

" With the administration of Jefferson came the re- 
action against the formal customs and stately manners of 
the founders. That skilful and accomplished leader of 
men, who had planted tht3 germ of secession in the reso- 
lutions of 1798, brought to his administration the aid of 
those simple, democratic manners which were so effec- 
tual in deepening the false impression that the preceding 
administration had sought to establish a monarchy. 

" In delivering his inaugural, Jefferson appeared be- 
fore Congress in the plainest attire. Discarding the 
plush breeches, silk stockings, and silver knee-buckles, 
he wore plain pantaloons ; and his Republican admirers 
noted the fact that no aristocratic shoe-buckles covered 
his instep, but his plain American shoes were i\istened 
with honest leather strings. The carriage and footmen, 
with outriders in livery, disappeared ; and the spectacle 
of the President on horseback was hailed as the certain 
sign of Republican equality. These changes were noted 
by his admirers as striking proofs of his democratic 
spirit ; but they did not escape the equally extravagant 
and absurd criticism of his enemies. Mr. Goodrich has 
preserved an anecdote which illustrates the absurdity ot 
both parties. Near the close of Jefferson's term, the 
congressional caucus had named Mr. Madison for the 
president. The leading barber of \Vashington (who was 



156 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

of course a federalist) while shaving a federalist senator, 
vehemently burst out in this strain : 

" * Surely this country is doomed to disgrace and 
shame. What presidents we might have, sir ! Just 
look at Daggett, of Connecticut, and Stockton, of New 
Jersey ! What queues they have got, sir — as big as 
your wrist, and powdered ever}^ day, sir, like real gen- 
tlemen as they are. Such men, sir, would confer dig- 
nity upon the chief magistracy ; but this little Jim 
Madison, with a queue no bigger than a pipe-stem ! 
Sir, it is enough to make a man forswear his country ! ' 

" M;iny customs of that early time have been pre- 
served to our own day. In the crypt constructed under 
the dome of the Capitol, as the resting-place for the re- 
mains of Washington, a guard was stationed, and a light 
was kept burning for more than half a century. Indeed, 
the ofBce of keeper of the crypt was not abolished until 
after the late war. 

" For the convenience of one of the early speakers of 
the House, nn urn filled with snuff was fastened to the 
speaker's desk : and until last year, I have never known 
it to be empty during the session of the House. 

'^The administration of Madison, notwithstanding the 
gloomy prediction of the federalist barber, restored some 
of the earlier customs. It had been hinted tliat a car- 
riage was more necessary to him than to the widower 
Jefferson. Assisted by his beautiful and accomplished 
wife, he resumed the presidential levees ; and many so- 
ciety people regretted that the elevated dais was not re- 
stored, to aid iu setting off the small stature of Mr. Madi- 
son. 



GENERAL GARFIELD ENTERS CONGRESS. 157 

" The limits of this article will not allow me to notice 
the changes of manners and methods in Congress since 
tlie administration of the elder Adams. Such a review 
would bring before us many striking characters and many 
stirring scenes. We should find the rage of party spirit 
pursuing Washington to his voluntary retreat at Mount 
Vernon at the close of his term, and denouncing him as 
the corrupt and wdcked destroyer of his country. We 
should find the same spirit publicly denouncing a chief- 
justice of the United States as a ' driveller and a fool,' 
and impeaching, at the bar of the Senate, an eminent as- 
sociate justice of the supreme court for ha^dng manfully 
and courageously discharged the high duties of his office 
in defiance of the party passions of the hour. We should 
see the pure and patriotic Oliver Wolcott, the secretary 
of the treasury, falsely charged, by a committee of Con 
gress, with corruption in office and with the monstrom 
crime of having set on fire the public buildings for the 
purpose of destroying the evidences of his guilt. Wa 
should see the two houses in joint session witnessing the 
opening of the returns of the electoral colleges and the 
declaration of a tie vote between Thomas JolFerson and 
Aaron Burr ; and then, in the midst of the fiercest excite- 
ment, we-should see the House of Representatives in con- 
tinuous session for eight days, several members in the 
hist stages of illness being brought in on beds and at- 
tended by their wives, wliile the ballotings went on 
^^hich resulted in Jefferson's election. And we should 
witness a similar scene, twenty-four years later, when the 
election of the younger Adams by the House, avenged in 
^part the wrong of his father. 



158 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

" In tlie long line of those who have occupied seats 
in Congress, we should see, here and there, rising above 
the undistinguished mass, the figures of those great men 
whose lives and labors have made their country illustri- 
ous, and whose inQuence upon its desthiy will be felt fur 
ages to come. We should see that group of great states- 
men whom the last war with England brought to public 
notice, among whom were Ames and Randolph, Clay and 
Webster, Calhoun and Benton, Wright and Prentiss, mak- 
ing their era famous by their statesmanship, and creating 
and destroying political parties by their fierce antago- 
nisms. We should see the folly and barbarism of the 
so-called code of honor destroying noblemen in the fatal 
meadow of Bladensburg. We should see the spirit of 
liberty awaking the conscience of the nation to the sin 
and danger of slavery, whose advocates had inherited 
and kept alive the old anarchic spirit of disunion. We 
should trace the progress of that great struggle from the 
days when John Quincy Adams stood in the House of 
Representatives, like a lion at bay, defending the sacred 
right of petition ; when, after his death, Joshua R. Gid- 
dings continued the good fight, standing at this post for 
twenty years, his white locks, like the plume of Henry 
of Navarre, always showing where the battle for freedom 
raged most fiercel}'' ; when his small band in Congress, 
re-enforced by Hale and Slimner, Wade and Chase, Love- 
joy and Stevens, continued the struggle amid the most 
turbulent scenes ; when daggers were brandished and 
pistols were drawn in the halls of Congress ; and later, 
when, one by one, the senators and representatives of 
eleven States, breathing defiance and uttering maledic^ 



GENERAL GARFIELD ENTERS CONGRESS. 159 

tions upon the Union, resigned their seats and left the 
Capitol to take up arms against their country. We 
should see the Congress of a people long unused to war, 
when confronted by a supreme danger, raising, equipping, 
and supporting an army greater than all the armies of 
Napoleon and Wellington combined ; meeting the most 
difficult questions of international and constitutional law; 
and, by new forms of taxation, raising a revenue which, 
in one year of the war, amounted to more than all the 
national taxes collected during the first half century of 
the government. We should see them so amending the 
constitution as to strengthen the safeguards of the Union 
and insure universal liberty and universal sulfrnge, and 
restoring to their places in the Union the eleven States 
whose governments, founded on secession, fell into instant 
ruin when the Rebellion collapsed ; and we should see 
them, even when the danger of destruction seemed great- 
est, voting the largest sum of money ever appropriated 
by one act, to unite the East and the West, the Atlantic 
and the Pacific coasts, by a material bond of social, com- 
mercial, and political union. 

" In this review we should see courage and coward- 
ice, patriotism and selfishness, far-sighted wisdom and 
short-sighted folly, joining in a struggle always desperate 
and sometimes doubtful ; and yet, out of all this turmoil 
and fierce strife we should see the Union slowly but 
surely rising, with greater strength and brighter lustre, 
to a higher place among the nations. 

" Congress has always been and mu^t always be the 
theatre of contending opinions ; the forum where the op- 
posing forces of political philosophy meet to measure their 



i60 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

strength ; where the public good must meet the assaults 
of local and sectional interests; in a word, the appointed 
place where the nation seeks to utter its thought and 
register its T\ill. 

CONGiy^SS AND THE EXECUTIVE. 
" This brings me to consider the present relations of 
Congress to the other great departments of the govern- 
ment, and to the people. The limits of this article will 
permit no more than a glance at a few principal heads 

of inquiry. 

" In the main, the balance of powers so admirably ad- 
justed and distributed among the three great depart- 
ments of the government have been safely preserved. It 
was the purpose of our fathers to lodge absolute power 
.nowhere ; to leave each department independent within 
its own sphere ; yet, in every case, responsible for the 
exercise of its discretion. But some dangerous innova. 
tions have been made. 

« And first, the appointing power of the President has 
been seriously encroached upon by Congress, or rather 
by the members of Congress. Curiously enough, this 
encroachment originated in the act of the chief executive 
himself. The fierce popular hatred of the federal party, 
which resulted in the elevation of Jefferson to the presi- 
dency, led that officer to set the first example of remov- 
ing men from office on account of political opinions. For 
political causes alone he removed a considerable number 
of officers who had recently been appointed by President 
Adams, and thus set the pernicious example. His imme- 
diate successors made only a few removals for political 



GENERAL GARFIELD ENTERS CONGRESS. 161 

reasons. But Jackson made his political opponents who 
were in office feel the full weight of his executive hand. 
From that time forward the civil offices of the govern 
ment became the prizes for which political parties strove ; 
and, twenty-five years ago, the corrupting doctrine that 
to the victors belong the spoils ' was shamelessly an- 
nounced as an article of political faith and practice. It 
is hardly possible to state with adequate force the nox- 
ious influence of this doctrine. It was bad enough when 
the federal officers numbered no more than eight or ten 
thousjind ; but now, when the growth of the country and 
the great increase in the number of public offices occa- 
sioned by the late war, have swelled the civil list to more 
than eighty thousand, and to the ordinary motives foT 
political strife this vast patronage is offered as a reward 
to the victorious party, the magnitude of the evil can 
hardly be measured. The public mind has, by degrees, 
drifted into an acceptance of this doctrine ; and thus an 
election has become a fierce, selfish struggle between the 
* ins ' and the ^ outs,' the one striving to keep and the 
other to gain the prize of office. It is not possible for 
any president to select, with any degree of intelligence, 
so vast an army of office-holders without the aid of men 
wlio are acquainted with the people of the various sec- 
tions of the country. And thus it has become the habit 
of presidents to make most of their appointments on the 
recommendation of members of Congi*ess. During the 
last twenty-five years, it has been understood, by the 
Congress and the people, that offices are to be obtained 
by the aid of senators and representatives, who thus be- 
come'the dispensers, sometimes the brokers of patronage. 



162 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

The members of State legislatures who choose a senator, 
and the district electors who choose a representative, 
look to the man of their choice for appointments to office. 
Thus, from the President downward, through all the 
grades of official authority, to the electors themselves, 
civil office becomes a vast corrupting power, to be used 
in running the machine of party politics. 

" This evil has been greatly aggravated by the pas- 
sage of the Tenure of Office Act, of 1867, whose object 
was to restrain President Johnson from making removals 
for political cause. But it has virtually resulted in the 
usurpation, by the Senate, of a large share of the ap- 
pointing power. The President can remove no officer 
without the consent of the Senate ; and such consent is 
not often given, unless the appointment of the successor 
nominated to fill the proposed vacancy is agreeable to the 
senator in whose State the appointee resides. Thus, it 
has happened that a policy, inaugurated by an early 
president, has resulted in seriously crippling the just 
powers of the executive, and has placed in the hands of 
senators and representatives a power most corrupting and 
dangerous. 

" Not the least serious evil resulting from this inva- 
sion of the executive functions by members of Congress 
is the fact that it greatly impairs their own usefulness as 
lojrislators. One-third of the working hours of senators 
and representatives is hardly sufficient to meet tlie de- 
mands made upon them in reference to appointments to 
office. The spirit of that clause of the constitution which 
shields them from arrest * during their attendance on the 
session of their respective houses, and in going to and 



GENERAL GARFIELD ENTERS CONGRESS. 163 

from the same,' should also shield them from being ar- 
rested from their legislative work, morning, noon, and 
night, by office-seekers. To sum up in a word : the 
present system invades the independence of the execu- 
tive, and makes him less responsible for the character of 
his appointments ; it impairs the efficiency of the legis- 
later by diverting him from his proper sphere of duty 
and involving him in the intrigues of aspirants for office ; 
it degrades the civil service itself by destroying the peB- 
sonal independence of those who are appointed; it re[)els 
from the service those high and manly qualities which are 
so necessary to a pure and efficient administration ; and 
finally, it debauches the public mind by holding up public 
office as the reward of mere party zeal. 

" To reform this service is one of the highest and most 
imperative duties of statesmanship. This reform cannot 
be accomplished without a complete divorce between 
Congress and the executive in the matter of appoint- 
ments. It will be a proud day when an administration 
senator or representative, who is in good standing in his 
party, can say as Thomas Hughes said, during his recent 
visit to this country, that though he was on the most in- 
timate terms with the members of his own administration, 
yet it was not in his power to secure the removal of the 
humblest clerk in the civil service of his government. 

*' This is not the occasion to discuss the recent en- 
largement of the jurisdiction of Congress in reference to 
the election of a president and vice-president by the 
States. But it cannot be denied that the electoral bill 
has spread a wide and dangerous field for congressional 
action. Unless the boundaries of its power shall be re- 



164 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

stricted by a new amendment of the constitution, we have 
seen the List of our elections of president on the old plan. 
The power to decide who has been elected may be so used 
as to exceed the power of electing. 

" I have long believed that the official relations be- 
tween the executive and Congress should be more open 
and direct. They are now conducted by correspondence 
with the presiding officers of the two houses, by consul- 
tation with committees, or by private interviews with in- 
dividual members. This frequently leads to misunder- 
standings, and may lead to corrupt combinations. It 
would be far better for both departments if the members 
of the cabinet were permitted to sit in Congress and par- 
ticipate in the debates on measures relating to their sev- 
eral departments — but, of course, without a vote. This 
would tend to secure the ablest men for the chief execu- 
tive offices ; it would bring the policy of the adminis- 
tration into the fullest publicity by giving both parties 
ample opportunity for criticism and defence. 

CONGRESS OVERBUKDENED. 

" As a result of the great growth of the country and 
of the new legislation arising from the late war, Congress 
is greatly overloaded with work. It is safe to say that 
the business which now aiuiually claims the attention of 
Congress is tenfold more complex and burdensome than 
it was forty years ago. For example : the twelve annual 
appropriation bills, with their numerous details, now con- 
sume two-thirds of each short session of the House. 
Forty years ago, when the sippropriations were made more 
In block, one week was sufficient for the work. The vast 



GENERAL GARFIELD ENTERS CONGRESS. 165 

extent of our country, the increasing number of States 
and Territories, the legislation necessary to regulate our 
mineral lands, to manage our complex systems of internal 
revenue, banking, currency, and expenditure, have so in- 
creased the work of Congress that no one man can ever 
read the bills and the official reports relating to current 
legislation ; much less can he qualify himself for intelli- 
gent action upon them. As a necessary consequence, the 
real work of legislation is done by the committees ; and 
their work must be accepted or rejected without full 
knowledge of its merits. This fact alone renders leader- 
ship in Congress, in the old sense of the word, impossible. 
For many years we have had the leadership of conmiit- 
tees and chairmen of committees ; but no one man can 
anv more be the leader of all the legislation of the Senate 
or of the House, than one lawyer or one physician can 
now be foremost in all the departments of law or medi- 
cine. The evils of loose legislation resulting from this 
situation must increase rather than diminish, until a 
remedy is provided. 

"John Stuart Mill held that a numerous popular as- 
sembly is radically unfit to make good latvs, but is the best 
possible means of getiing good Icm's made. He suggested, 
as a permanent part of the constitution of a free country, 
a legislative commission, composed of a few trained men, 
to draft such laws as the legislature, by general resolu- 
tions, shall direct, which draft shall be adopted by the 
legislature, without change, or returned to the commis- 
sion to be amended.* 

" Whatever may be thought of Mr. Mill's suggestion, 

* MIU'b Autobiography, pp. 3G-4'>. 



1G6 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

it is clear that some plan must be adopted to relievo Con- 
gress from the infinite details of legislation, and to pre- 
serve harmony and coherence in our laws. 

" Another change observable in Congress, as well as 
in the legislatures of other countries, is the decline of ora- 
tory. The press is rendering the orator obsolete. Sta- 
tistics now furnish the materials upon which the legislator 
depends ; and a column of figures will often demolish a 
dozen pages of eloquent rhetoric. 

" Just now, too, the day of sentimental politics is pass- 
ing away, and the work of Congress is more nearly allied 
to the business interests of the country and to ^ the dis- 
mal science,' as political economy is called by the * prac- 
tical men ' of our time. 

CO XG HESS AND THE PEOPLE. 

*^ The legislation of Congi-ess comes much nearer to 
the daily life of the people than ever before. Twenty 
years ago, the presence of the national government was 
not felt by one citizen in a hundred. Except in paying 
his postage and receiving his niail, the citizen of the inte- 
rior rarely came in contact with the national authority. 
Now, he meets it in a tliousaud ways. Formerly the 
legislation of Congress referred chiefly to our foreign re- 
lations, to indirect taxes, to the government of the army, 
the navy, and the Territories. Now a vote in Congress 
may, any day, seriously derange the business aflairs of 
every citizen. 

" And this leads me to say, that now, more than ever 
before, the people are responsible for the character of 
their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and 



GENERAL GARFIELD ENTERS CONGRESS. 167 

corrii}>t, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, reck- 
lessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and 
pure, it is because the people demand those high quali- 
ties to represent them in the national legislature. Con- 
gress lives in the blaze of ^ that fierce light which beats 
against the throne.' The telegraph and the press will 
to-morrow morning announce at a million breakfast tables 
what has been said and done in Congress to-day. Now, 
jis a!\va}s. Congress represents the prevailing opinions 
and political aspirations of the people. The w^ildest de- 
lusions of paper money, the crudest theories of taxation, 
the passions and prejudices thjit find expression in the 
Senate ;ind House, were first believed and discussed at 
the firesides of the people, on the corners of the streets, 
and in the caucuses and conventions of political parties. 

*' The most alarming feature of our situation is the 
f;ict that so many citizens of high character and solid 
judgment pay but little attention to the sources of po- 
litical power, to the selection of those who shall make 
tiieir laws. The clergy, the fuculties of colleges, and 
n):iny of the leading business men of the community, 
M€ver attend the township caucus, the city primaries, or 
the county convention ; but they allow the less intelli- 
gent and the more selfish and corrupt members of the 
cummunity to make the slates and *run the machine* 
of politics. They wait until the machine has done its 
work, and then, in surprise, and horror at the ignorance 
Jind corruption in public office, sigh for the return of that 
mythical period called the ' better and purer days of the 
republic' It is precisely fehis neglect of the first steps 
in our political processes that has made possible the 



168 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

worst evils of onr system. Corrupt and incompetent 
presidents, judges, and legislators can be removed, but 
when the fountains of political power are corrupted, when 
voters themselves become venial and elections fraudu- 
lent, there is no remedy except by awakening the pub- 
lic conscience, and bringing to bear upon the subject the 
power of public opinion and the penalties of the law. 
The practice of buying and selling votes at our popular 
elections has already gained a foothold, though it has 
not gone as far as in England. 

" It is mentioned in the rec<'nt biography of Lord 
Macaulay, as a boast, that his three elections to the 
House of Commons cost him but ten tliousand dollar^^. 
A hundred years ago, bribery of electors was far more 
prevalent and shameless in England than it now is, 

" There have always been, and always will be, bad 
men in all human pursuits. Tliere was a Judas in the 
college of the Apostles, an Arnold in the army of the 
Revolution, a Burr in our early politics ; and they have 
had successors in all departments of modern hfu. But 
it is demonstrable, iis a matter of history, that on the 
whole the standard of public and private morals is higher 
in the United States at the present time than ever be- 
fore ; that men in public and private stations are held 
to a more rigid accountability, and that the average 
moral tone of Congress is higher to-day than at any 
previous period of our history.* It is certainly true that 

* On this point I beg to refer the reader to a speech dt-liveri'd by Hon. 
George F. Hoar, in the House of Kepresent-tive?, August 9, 187H. in which 
that distinguished gf-ntleraan said: "I believe there is absolutely less of 
corruption, less of maladministration, and less of vice and evil in public life 
than there was in the sixteen j'ears which covered the administration of 



GENERAL GARFIELD ENTERS CONGRESS. 169 

our kfe war disturbed the est;iblislied order of society, 
awakened a reckless spirit of adventure and speculation, 
and greatly multiplied the opportunities and increased 
the temptations to evil. The disorganization of the 
Southern States and the temporary disfranchisement of 
its leading citizens threw a portion of their representa- 
tion in Congress, for a short time, into the hands of po- 
litical adventurers, many of whom used their brief hold 
on power for personal ends, and thus brought disgi-ace 
ui)oii the national legislature. And it is also true that 
the enlarged sphere of legislation so mingled public 
duties and private interests, that it was not easy to draw 
the line between them. From that cause, also, the repu- 
tation, and in some cases the character, of public men 
sulfered eclipse. But the earnestness and vigor with 
which wrong-doing is everywhere punished is a strong 
guaranty of the purity of those who may hold posts of 
authority and honor. Indeed, there is now danger in 
the opposite direction, namely, that criticism may de- 
generate into mere slander, and put an end to its power 
for good bv being used as the means to assassinate the 
reputation and destroy the usefulness of honorable men. 
It is as much the duty of all good men to protect and 
defend the reputation of worthy public servants as to 
detect and punish public rascals. 

'' In a word, our national safety demands that the 
fountains of political power shall be made pure by intel 
ligence, and kept pure by vigilance ; that the best citi- 

Washingtoa, the admiuistraiiou of Jolin Adama, and the first term of Jeffer- 
son." This asHerdou ia luaiutained by numerous citatiouB of unqiu'Stioued 
facts in the speech. 



170 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

zens shall take heed to the selection and election of tho 
worthiest and most intelligent among them to hold seats 
in the national legislature ; and that when the choice has 
been made, the coiitinmance of their representative shall 
depend upon his faithfulness, his ability, and his willing- 
ness to work. 

CONGRESS AND CULTURE. 

"In Congress, as everywhere else, careful study — • 
thorough, earnest work — is the only sure passport to 
usefulness and distinction. From its first meeting in 
1774 to its lust in 1788, three hundred and fifty-four 
men sat in the Continental Congress. Of these, one 
hundred and eighteen — one third of the whole number 
— were college graduates. That third embraced much 
the largest number of those whose names have come 
down to us as the great founders of the republic. Since 
the a<loption of the constitution of 1787, six thousand 
two hundred and eighteen men have held seats in Con- 
gress ; and among them all, ^lorough culture and ear- 
nest, arduous work have been the lending characteristics 
of those whose service has been most useful and v»'hose 
fame has been most enduring. Galloway wrote of 
Samuel Adams : ' He drinks little, eats temperately, 
thinks much, and is most indefatigable in the pursuit of 
his objects.' This description can still be fittingly ap- 
plied to all men who deserve and achieve success finy- 
where, but especially in public life. As a recent wiiter 
has said, in discussing the effect of Prussian culture, so 
we may say of culture in Congress: ' The lesson is, that 
whether }ou want him for war or peace, there is no way 



GENERAL GARFIELD ENTERS CONGRESS. 171 

in which you can get so much out of a man as by train- 
ing, not in pieces, but the whole of him ; and that the 
trained men, other things being equal, are pretty sure, 
in the long run, to be masters of the world.' 

" Congress must always be the exponent of the polite 
ical character and culture of the people; and if the next 
centennial does not find us a great nation, with a great 
and worthy Congress, it will be because those who repre- 
eent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the 
nation, do not aid in controlling the political forces which 
are employed to select the men who shall occupy the 
great places of trust and power." 



CHAPTER VI. 



GENERAL GARFIELD 8 CONGRESSIONAL CAREER. 

Tlie Wade-Davis Manifesto — General Garfield before the Conventiop • 
Moral Courage wins the Day — Triumphant Nomination and El<'cti'0 
of (General Garfield — Is appointed a Member of the Committee of WavB 
and Means — Speech on the Constitutional A neiidment — A Grand De- 
nunciation of Slavery — Spesch on the Reconstruction of the Southern 
States — Speech on Confiaciition — A Reminiscence of the War — Gradual 
Rise of the Negro — How Garfield refused to surrender a Fugitive Slave 
—Speech on State Sovereignty — General Garfield as a Temperance 
Worker — How he shut up a Beer Brewery — A Good Speculation — Gen- 
eral Garfield's TariflT Record — Views of the Iron and Steel Bulletin- 
General Garfield's Course Satisfactory — To the Protectionists — His Real 
Position on this Question — Re-election of General Garfield to Congress 
— Is made Chairman of the Military Committee — Successive re-electiona 
to Congress — Is made Chairman of the Committee on Appropriation? — 
Debate on the Civil Appropriation Bill of 1872 — General Garfield's mode 
of conducting Public Business — The Salary Grab — General Garfield's 
Course respecting jt — Letter to a Friend — Garfield successfully Vindi- 
dicates his Course — A Silly Rumor Refuted — General Garfield urges 
the Repeal of the Salary Bill. 

When the time for holding the Congressional Convention 
of General Garfield's distric*^ arrived in 1804, his political 
enemies spread the report through the district that he had 
written the famous Wade-Davis manifesto against Presi- 
dent Lincoln, or was at least thoroughly in sympathy 
with it. This manifesto had created the most intense 
excitement throughout the West, and especially in tha 



CONGRESSIONAL CAREER. 173 

Western Reserve, where Mr. Lincoln was universally be- 
loved, and where any attempt to criticise his course wa^ 
resented by the sturdy Republican phnlanx as almost 
equal to disloyalty. The consequence was that General 
Garfield was summoned by a committee to appear before 
the Convention and explain himself. It seemed to him a 
square challenge to his independence, and he resolved to 
meet it manfully. lie went to the Convention, was given 
a seat on the platform, and was called upon by the chair- 
man for a statement as to his connection with the obnox- 
ious letter. He made a speech which he supposed could 
have no other eifect than to dig his political grave. He had 
not written t-he Wade-Davis letter, he said, but he had only 
one regret connected with it, and that was that there was 
a necessity for its appearance. He approved the letter, 
defended the motives of its authors, asserted his right to 
independence of thought and action, and told the delegates 
that if they did not want a free agent for their represent- 
ative, they had better find another man, for he did not 
desire to serve them any longer. After he had finished 
speaking, he left the platform and strode out of the hall. 
When he reached the foot of the stairs he heard a great 
tumult above, which he imagined was the signal of his 
unanimous rejection. On the contrary, it was the sound 
of his nomination by acclamation. No sooner had he left 
th^n an Ashtabula delegate rose and said that he thouglit 
the Convention could not do better than to renominate 
by acclamation a man of such independence and courage 
as General Garfield had just shown himself to be. His 
motion was carried with a hurrah before the delegates 
opposed to Garfield had time to open their mouths. Gov* 



174 JAMES A. GARFIELD : 

ernor Todd said, after the meeting dispersed, that a dis* 
trict that would allow a young fellow like Garfield to 
tweak its nose nnd cuff its ears in that manner deserved 
to have him saddled on it for the rest of his life. And it 
came near being the case. 

The election come off in the fall of 1864, and Gen- 
eral Garfield was returned by a majority of nearly 12,>.0( 
votes. His return to the House was a matter of general 
rejoicing to the Republicans in Congress, and so highly 
was he esteemed that he was appointed a member of 
the Committee of Ways and Means. This was done at 
the request of the Secretary of the Treasury, who had 
spoken of him as one of the best informed men on fi- 
nancial matters to be found in public life. The Com- 
mittee of Ways and Means is the most important in 
the House. It is charged with the consideration and 
preparation of all the financial measures of Congress, 
and provides the means of raising the revenue. Con- 
sequently its members are chosen by the Speaker with 
the greatest care, and are selected from the ablest mem- 
bers of the House. General Garfield gave himself up 
to a profound study of financial matters, and soon made 
it apparent to all that the praise of the Secretary of the 
Treasury was neither rashly bestowed nor undeserved. 

General Garfield continued an active and leading 
iebater in Congress, and fully maintained the reputa- 
tion he had made during his first years in that body 
He spoke frequently and eloquently. He supported the 
constitutional amendment prohibiting slavery every- 
where within the limits of the United States, and in the 
course of his remarks said : 



HIS CONGRESSIONAL CAREER. 175 

"Mr. Speaker: — We sliall never know why slavery 
dies so hard in this Republic and in this hall till we 
know why sin is long-lived and Satan is immorbil. 
With marvellous tenacity of existence, it has outlived 
the expectations of its friends and the hopes of its 
enemies. It has been declared here and elsewhere to 
bo in the several stages of mortality — wounded, mori- 
bund, dead. The question was raised by my colleague 
(Mr. Cox) yesterday whether it was indeed dead, or 
only in a troubled sleep. I know of no better illustra- 
tion of its condition than is found in Sallust's admira- 
ble history of the great conspirator, Cataline, who, when 
his final battle was fought and lost, his army broken 
and scattered, was found far in advance of his own 
troops, lying among the dead enemies of Rome, yet 
breathing a little, but exhibiting in his countenance all 
the ferocity of spirit which had characterized his life. 
So, sir, this body of slavery lies before us among the 
dead enemies of the Republic, mortally wounded, im- 
potent in its fiendish wickedness, but with its old fe-' 
rocity of look, bearing the unmistakable marks of its 
infernal origin. 

" Who does not remember that thirty years ago — a 
short period in the life of a nation — but little could be 
said with impunity in these halls on the subject of 
slavery ? How well do gentlemen here remember the 
tustory of that distinguished predecessor of mine, Joshua 
R. Giddings, hitely gone to his rest, who, with his for- 
lorn hope of faithful men, took his life in his hand, and 
in fhe name of justice protested against the gre.it crime, 
and who stood bravely in his place until his white locks, 



176 JAMES A. GARFIELD I 

like the plume of Ilenr}'- of Navarre, marked where the 
battle for freedom raged fiercest ! 

" We can hardly realize that this is the same people 
and these the same halls, where now scarcely a man 
can be found who will venture to do more than falter 
out an apology for slavery, protesting in the same breath 
that he has no love for the dying tyrant. None, I be 
lieve, but that man of more than supernal boldness, 
from the city of New York (Mr. Fernando Wood), has 
ventured, this session, to raise his voice in favor of 
shivery for its own sake. He still sees in its features 
the reflection of beauty and divinity, and only he. 
' I low art thou fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of 
the morning ! How art thou cut down to the ground, 
which didst weaken the nations ! ' Many mighty men 
have been slain by thee ; many proud ones have hum- 
bled themselves at th}' feet ! All along the coast of our 
political sea these victims of slavery lie like stranded 
wreck;?, broken on the headlands of freedom. How 
lately did its advocates, with impious boldness, maintain 
it as God's own, to be venerated and cherished as divine. 
It was another and higher form of civilization. It was 
the holy evangel of America dispensing its mercies to a 
benighted race, and destined to bear countless blessings 
to the wilderness of the West. In its mad arrogance it 
lifted its hand to strike down the fabric of the Union, 
and since that fatal day it has been a ' fugitive and a 
vagabond upon the earth.' Like the spirit that Jesus 
cast out, it has, since then, * been seeking rest and find- 
ing none.' 

" It has sought in all the corners of the Republic to 



HIS CONGRESSIONAL CAREER. 177 

find some hiding-place in which to shelter itself from 
the death it so richly deserves. 

"It sought an asylum in the untrodden territories 
of the West; but, with a whip of scorpions, indignant 
freeman drove it thence. I do not believe that a loynl 
man can now be found who would consent that it should 
a.irain enter them. It has no hopes of harbor there. It 
found no protection of favor in the hearts or consciences 
of the freemen of the Republic, and has fled for its last 
hope of safety behind the shield of the constitution. 
We propose to follow it there, and drive it thence^as 
Sat:in was exiled from heaven." 

During the same session the question of the re- 
construction of the Southern States and the proper treat- 
ment of the "nefxroes was debated. General Garfield 
spoke earnestly on the subject, and on one occasion said : 

" We should do nothing inconsistent with the spirit 
and genius of our institutions. We should do nothing 
for revenge, but everything for security ; nothing for the 
past, everything for the present and the future. Indem- 
nity for the past we can never obtain. The four hundred 
thousand graves in which sleep oui- fathers and brothers, 
murdered by rebellion, will keep their sacred trust till 
the anffel of the resurrection bills the dead come forth. 
The tears, the sorrow, the unutterable anguish of broken 
hearts can never be atoned for. ^Ve turn from that sad 
hut glorious past, and demand such securities for the 
future as can never be destroyed. 

" We must recognize in all our action the stupendous 
facts of the war. In the very crisis of our fate, God 
brought us face to face with the alarming truth that we 

12 



178 JAMES A. GARFIELD : 

must lose our own freedom or grant it to the slave. In 
the extremity of our distress we called upon the . black 
man to help us save the Republic, and amid the very 
thunder of battle we made a covenant with him, sealed 
both with his blood and ours, and witnessed by Jehovah, 
that when the nation was redeemed he should be free 
and share with us the dories and blessinn; of freedom. 
[n the solemn words of the 2:reat Proclamation of Enian- 
eipation, we not only decl.'ired the slaves forever free, but 
we pledged the faith of the nation ' to maintain their 
freedom' — mark the words, ' to maintain their freedom.^ 
The Omniscient witness will appear in judgment against 
us if we do not fulfil that covenant. Have we done 
it? Have we given freedom to the black man? What 
is freedom ? Is it a mere negation ; th^ bare privilege 
of not being chained, bouixht and sold, branded and 
scourged ? If this be all, then freedom is a bitter mock- 
ery, a cruel delusion, and it may well be questioned 
whether slavery were not better. 

" But liberty is no negation. It is a substantive, 
tangible realit}^ It is the realization of those imperisha- 
ble truths of the Declaration ' that fill men are created 
€qunl,' that the sanction of all just government is ' the 
consent of the governed.' Can these truths be realized 
until each man has a right to be heard on all matters 
relating to himself? . . . We have passed the Red 
Sea of slaughter ; our garments are yet wet with its 
crimson spray. We have crossed the fearful wilderness 
•of war, and have left our four hundred thousand heroes 
to sleep beside the dead enemies of the Republic. We 
Jiave heard the voice of God, amid the thunders of battle, 



HIS CONGRESSIONAL CAREER. 179 

rmnmanding us to wash our hands of iniquity, to ' pro- 
cbiim liberty throng-hout all the land unto all the inbabi- 
tnnts thereof.' When we spurned bis counsels we were 
defeated, and the gulfs of ruin yawned before us. When 
we obeyed his voice, he gave us victory. i\nd now, 
at last, we have reached the confines of the wilderness. 
Before us is the land of promise, the land of hope, the 
land of peace, fille<l with possibilities of greatness and 
glory too vast for the grasp of the imagination. Are we 
worthy to enter it? On what condition may it be ours 
to enjoy and transmit to our children's children ? Let us 
pause and make deliberate and solemn preparation. 

" Let us as representatives of the people, whose ser- 
vants we are, bear in advance the sacred ark of republi- 
can liberty, with its tables of the law inscribed with the 
irreversible guarantees of liberty. Let us here build a 
monument, on which shall be written not only the curses 
of the law against treason, disloyalty, and oppression, but 
also an everlasting covenant of peace and blessing with 
loyalty, Uberty, and obedience, and all the people will say 

Amen !" 

When the subject of confiscation was brought u]\ 
General Garfield spoke at length upon it, and in the 
course of his remarks, related this leaf from his army 
experience : 

" I would have no man there, like one from my own 
State, who came to the army before the great struggle in 
Georgia, and gave us his views of peace. He came as the 
friend of Vallandigham, the man for whom the gentleman 
on the other side of the House from my State worked and 
voted. We were on the eve of a great battle, I said to 



180 JAMES A. GARFIELD: 

him, ' You wish to make Mr. Vallandigham goveraor of 
Ohio. Why ?' ^ Because, in the first place,' using the 
language of the gentleman from New York (Mr. F(^r- 
rando Wood), 'you cannot subjugate the South, and we 
propose to withdraw without trying it longer. In the 
next place, we will have nothing to do with this aboli- 
tion war, nor will we give a man or a dollar for its sup- 
port,' (Remember, gentlemen, what occurred in regard to 
the conscription bill this morning). * To-morrow,' I con- 
tinued, * we may be engaged in a death struggle with ilie 
rebel army that confronts us, and is daily increasiiii:-. 
Where is the sympathy of your party? Do you w;iiit, 
us beaten, or Bragg beaten?' He answered that tliey 
had no interest in fighting ; that they did not believe in 
fighting. 

" Mr. Noble. — A question right here. 

"Mr. Garfield. — I cannot yield; I have no time. 
Y'ou can hear his name, if you wish. He was the agent 
sent by the copperhead secretary of state to distribute 
electiion blanks to the army of the Cumberland. His 
name was Griffiths. 

" Mr. Noble. — A single que^^tion. 

" Mr. Giirfield. — I have no time to spare. 

" Mr. Noble. — I want to ask the gentleman if he 
knows that Mr. Griffiths has made a question of veracity 
with him by a positive denial of the alleged conversation, 
published in the Cincinnati Enquirer. 

" Mr. Garfield. — No virtuous denials in the Cincinnati 
Enquirer can alter the fiicts of this conversation, which 
was heard bv a dozen officers. 

" I asked him further, ' How would it affect your 



HIS CONGRESSIONAL CAREER. 181 

pnrty if we should crush the rebels in this battle and ut- 
terly destroy them ?' * We would probably lose votes by 
it.' * How would it affect your party if we should be 
beaten ?' ' It would probably help us in votes.' 

" That, gentlemen, is the kind of support the army is 
receiving in what should be the house of its friends. That, 
gentlemen, is the kind of support these men are inclined 
to give this country and its army in this terrible struggle. 
I hasten to make honorable exceptions. I know there are 
honorable gentlemen on the other side who do not belong 
to that category, and I am proud to acknowledge them as 
my friends. I am sure they do not S3'mpathize with 
these efforts, whose tendency is to pull down the fabric 
of our government, by aiding their friends over the bor- 
der to do it. Their friends, I say, for when the Ohio elec- 
tion was about coming off, in the army at Chattanooga, 
there was more anxiety in the rebel camp than in our own. 
The pickets had talked face to face, and made daily in- 
quiries how the election in Ohio was going. And at mid- 
night of the 13th of October, when the telegraphic news 
was flashed down to us, and it was announced to the army 
that the Union had sixty thousand majority in Ohi®, there 
arose a shout from every tent along the line on that rainy 
midnight, which rent the skies with jubilees, and sent de- 
spair to the hearts of those who were ' waiting and watch- 
ing across the border.' It told them that their colleagues, 
their sympathizers, their friends, I had almost said their 
emissaries at the North, had failed to sustain themselves 
in turning the tide against the Union and its army. And 
from that hour, but not till that hour, the army felt safe 
from the enemy behind it. 



182 JAMES A. GARFIELD : 

"Thanks to the 13th of October. It told thirteen ol 
my colleagues that they had no constituencies." 

General Garfield was an earnest advocate of the policy 
of providing for the negroes by the Government. He fa- 
vored a wise and careful guardianship until they were 
able to care for themselves. In one of his speeches he 
said : 

" I cannot forget that less than five years ago I re- 
ceived an order from my superior officer in the army, 
commanding me to search my camp for a fugitive slave, 
and, if found, to deliver him up to a Kentucky captain, 
who claimed him as his property ; and I had the honor to 
be, perhaps, the first officer in the army who peremptorily 
refused to obey such an order. We were then trying to 
save the Union without hurting slavery. I remember, sir, 
that when we undertook to agitate in the army the ques- 
tion of putting arms into the hands of the slaves, it was 
said, ' Such a step will be fatal ; it will alienate half our 
army, and lose us Kentucky.' By and by, when our ne- 
cessities were imperious, we ventured to let the negroes 
dig in our trenches, but it would not do to put muskets in 
their hanSs. We ventured to let a negro drive a mule 
team, but it would not do to have a white man or a mu- 
latto just in front of him or behind hiiH j all must be ne- 
groes in that train ; you must not disgrace a white soldier 
by putting him in such company. * By and by,' some 
one Said, ^ Rebel guerillas may capture the mules ; so, for 
the sake of the mules, let us put a few muskets in the 
wagons and let the negroes shoot the guerillas if they 
come.' So, for the sake of the mules we enlarged the lim- 
its of liberty a little. [Laughter.] By and by we al- 



HIS CONGRESSIONAL CAREER. 183 

lowed the negroes to build fortifications, and armed them 
to save the earthworks they had mnde — not to do justice 
to the negro, but to protect the e;irth he had thrown up. 
By and by we said in this hall that we would arm the 
negroes, but they must not be called soldiers, nor wear 
the national uniform, for th;it would degrade white sol- 
diers. By and by we said, ' Let them wear the uniform, 
but they must not receive the pay of soldiers.' For six 
months we did not pay them enough to feed jind clothe 
them ; and tlieir shattered regiments came home from 
South Carolina in debt to the Government for the clothes 
they wore. It took us two years to reach a point where 
we were wilhng to do the most meager justice to the black 
man, and to recognize the truth that, 

' A man's a man for a' that.* " 

The inci<]ent to which General Garfield referred in the 
first part of the above remarks is related as follows by an 
oiBeer of General Sherman's staff: 

" One day I noticed a fugitive slave come rushing into 
camp with a bloody head, and apparently frightened 
almost to death. He had only passed my tent a moment 
when a regular bully of a fellow came riding up, and, 
with a volley of oaths, began to ask after his ' nigger.' 

*' General Garfield was not present, and he passed on 
to the division commander. This division commander 
was a sympathizer with the theory that fugitives should 
be returned to their masters, and that the Union soldiers 
should be made the instruments for returning them. He 
accordingly wrote a mandatory order to General Gar- 
field, in whose command the darky was supposed to be 



184 JAMES A. GARFIELD : 

hiding, telling him to hunt out and deliver over the prop 
erty of the outraged citizen. 

" I stated the case as fullv as I could to General Gar- 
field before handing him the order, but did not color my 
statement in any way. He took the order, and deliber- 
ately wrote on it the following indorsement : 

" ' I respectfully, but positively, decline to allow my 
command to search for, or deliver up, any fugitive slaves. 
T conceive that thej^ are here for quite another purpose. 
The command is open, and no obstacles will be placed in 
the way of the search.' 

"I read the indorsement, and was frightened. I ex- 
pected that, if returned, the result would be that the 
general would be coui't-martialied. I told him my fears. 
He sim{)ly replied : 

" ' The matter may as well be tested first as last. 
Right is right, and I do not propose to mince matters at 
all. My soldiers are here for far other purposes than 
hunting and returning fugitive slaves.' " 

During the session a resolution was offered tendering 
the thanks of Congress to General George H. Thomas, for 
his conduct at the battle of Chickamauga, and reflecting, 
as General Garfield thought, unjustly upon his old chief, 
General Rosecrans. This brought Garfield to his feet, 
and in a brilliant and earnest speech he eulogized Gen- 
eral Rosecrans, while at the same time he did full justice 
to General Thomas. 

During the session it was proposed to grant the sanc- 
tion of the Government of the United States to the con- 
struction of a new railway line between New York and 
Piiiladelphia. This was opposed on the ground that the 



HIS CONGRESSIONAL CAREER. 185 

State of New Jersey hnd granted a monopoly of tlie rail- 
votid trnffic across her limits between those points to the 
Cauiilen and Aniboy Railroad Company, and that the 
proposed action of Congress \vould be an unwarrantablo 
iiiterfcrence with the sovereign authority of that State. 
Upon this subject General Garfield spoke with great 
eloquence, and his speech was generally regarded as one 
of the most convincing arguments against State sover- 
eignty ever delivered in Congress. He said : 

" Mr. Coleridge somewdiere says that abstract defini- 
tions have done more harm in the world than plague and 
famine and war. I believe it. I believe that no man 
will ever be able to chronicle all the evils that have re- 
sulted to this nation from the abuse of the words ' sover- 
eign' and ' sovereignty.' What is this thing called ' State 
sovereignty?' Nothing more false was ever uttered in 
the halls of legislation than that any State of this Union 
is sovereign. Consult the elementary text-books of law, 
and refresh vour recollection of the definition of ' sever- 

ft/ 

eignty.' Speaking of the sovereignty of nations. Black- 
stone says : 

" ' However they began, by what right soever they 
subsist, there is and must be in all of them a supreme, 
irresistible, absolute, uncontrolled authority in which the 
fiira summi imperii or rights of sovereignty reside.' 

*' Do these elements belong to any State of this Tie- 
public ? Sovereignty has the right to declare war. Cm 
New Jersey declare war? It has the right to conclude 
peace. Can New Jersey conclude peace ? Sovereignty 
has the right to coin money. If the Legislature of New 
Jersey should authorize and command one of its citizens 



186 JAMES A. GARFIELD: 

to coin a half-dollar, that man, if he made it, though it 
sIiodM be of solid silver, would be locked up in a felon's 
cell for the crime of counterfeiting the coin of the real 
so\erei,i>n. A sovereign has the right to make treaties 
wmh (Vsreign nations. Has New Jersey the right to 
ihm'ah treaties? Sovereignty is clothed with the right 
to Vf'uuJate commerce with foreign states. New Jersey 
h;is no such right. Sovereignty has the right to put 
sliijis in commission upon the high seas. Should a ship 
set sail under the authority' of New Jersey it would be 
seized MS a smuggler, forfeited and sold. Sovereignty 
has a flag. But, thank God, New Jersey has no flag ; 
Ohio has no flag. No loj-al State fights under the * lone 
st;ir,' the ' rattlesnake,' or the ' palmetto tree.' No loyal 
State of this Union has any flag but ' the banner of 
beauty and of glory,' the flag of the Union. These are 
the indispensable elements of sovereignty. New Jersey 
has not one of them. The term cannot be applied to the 
separate States, save in a very limited and restricted 
cense, referring mainly to municipal and police regula- 
tions. The rights of the States should be jealously 
guarded and defended. But to claim that sovereignty in 
its full sense and meaning belongs to the States is noth- 
ing better than rankest treason. Look again at this doc- 
ument of the Governor of New Jersey. He tells you 
that the States entered into the * national compact f 
National compact ! I had supposed that no governor of 
a loyal State would parade this dogma of nullification and 
secession which was killed and buried by Webster on the 
16th of February, 1833. 

" There was no such thing as a sovereign State mak- 



HIS CONGRESSIONAL CAREER. 187 

ing a compact called a constitution. The very language 
of the Constitution is decisive : ' Wo, the people of the 
United States, do ordain and establish this Constitution. 
The States did not make a compact to be broken when 
any „ne pleased, but the people ordained and established 
the Constitution of a sovereign Republic ; and woe be to 
any corporation or State that raises its hand against the 
majesty and power of this great nation." 

General Garfield is an active and ardent worker in 
the temperance cause. About this time he gave a prac- 
tical evidence of his devotion to its principles, which is 
thus related by Mr. II. L. Baker. He states that it was 
told to him by a man who lived almost next door to Gen- 
eral Garfield, in Painesville, Ohio, for ten years, and 
during that time the events spoken of occurred. 

" It was in 1865 that the temperance people of 
Painesville were a good deal worked up over a beer 
brewery running full blast in their midst. They held 
meeting after meeting, and discussed all sorts of plans for 
getting rid of the obnoxious industry, but all to no 
avail as far as any practical outcome was concerned. 

" During that time General Garfield returned home, 
and attended the next temperance meeting as an earnest, 
enthusiastic temperance man. The same old subject of 
the brewery came up. After listening a few minutes, the 
general rose up and said : 

" ' Gentlemen, it is the easiest thing in the world to 
dispose of that brewery. I will agree to do it in one 
hour.' 

" The announcement took them all by surprise, of 
course. Suppress in one hour the nuisance they had sc 



188 JAMES A. GARFIELD : 

long bothered their heads over? Do in one hour what 
they failed to do in six months ? It seemed impossible. 
But he soon showed the;n that he meant business. 

" lie went over to the brewery, and in less Wv.m an 
hour he had purchased the whole property and paid cash, 
some $10,000, I believe. He destroyed all the manufac- 
tured liquor, and all the exclusive brewing machinery.' 
What disposal to make of the property was now the 
question. It did not lie idle long, however. 

" The next fall he converted the building and ma- 
chinery into a large cider-mill, and made hundreds of bar- 
rels of cider. Not one drop of cider would he sell or give 
away, for he was too strict a temperance man to think it 
right to drink even cider; but every barrel of it he kept 
till it had become cider vinegar, and then sold it. 

" The good people of the town were glad to learn that, 
after the property proved to be a good investment, and 
the general made it pay him well. After using the build- 
ing four or five years he sold it to other parties, and 
moved upon his farm at Mentor, Lake County, Ohio. 

" This is a small thing, to be sure ; but it shows that 
General Garfield's principles are not a dead letter, but are 
real, live matters, which he is ready to put into practice 
in his daily life." 

Throughout the reconstruction period and the quarrel 
between Congress and President Johnson, General Gar- 
field warmly championed the cause of Congress against 
the President. He made a good record on the Committee 
of Ways and Means, and was in favor of a moderate pro- 
tective tariir and a steady reduction of public expendi- 
tures and taxation. 



HIS CONGRESSIONAL CAREER. 189 

Mr. Garfield's course with regard to a protective 
tariff is thus summed up by The Iron and Steel Bnlletin, 
one of the leading protectionist journals of the United 

States : 

" Genernl Garfield's tariff record having been made a 
subject of discussion since liis nomination for the Presi- 
dency, it is both just and proper that we sliould state that 
the protectionists of the country, who have kept watch 
over tariff legislation during the past twenty years, and 
who have assisted to sha})e and maintain the present tariff, 
are perfectly sntisfied witb his tariff votes and speeches. 
They and all otlier protectionists have indeed abundant 
reason to be thankful to him for valuable assistance ren- 
dered to the cause of industry when it was in serious peril 
from free-trade attacks. His votes and speeches have 
been uniformly and consistently in fivor of the protective 
policy. His first tariff spt e(;li in Congress was made in 
1866. In this speech he carefully defined his position 
on the question of protection as follows : 

"* Ihold that a properly adjusted competition between 
home and foreign products is the best gauge by which to 
regulate international trade. Duties should be so high 
that our manufactures can fairly compete with the foreign 
product, but not so high as to enable them to drive out 
the foreign article, enjoy a monopoly of the trade, and 
regulate the price as tliey please. This is my doctrine ol 
protection. If Congress pursues this line of }iolicy stead- 
ily, we shall, year by year, approach more nearly to the 
basis of free trade, because we shall be more nearly able 
to compete with other nations on equal terms. 1 am for a 
protection thai leads to ultimate free trade. 1 am for that 



190 JAMES A. GARFIELD : 

free trade which can only be achieved through a reason- 
able protection.' 

" There was nothing in this declaration to which pro- 
tectionists conld fairly object. We are exporting many 
products of American workshops and factories today be- 
cause protection has made their production and exporta- 
tion possible. Great Britain was able to establish and 
maintain free trade only after centuries of the most vigor- 
orous protection of all her industries. This country is 
simply copying her wise example, and in the extract we 
have quoted, General Garfield distinctly declares his ap- 
proval of it. 

"In his next speech, delivered in 1870, upon General 
Schenck's tariff bill, which provoked a long and bitter 
controversy, General Garfield advised the protectionists 
of the House to assent to a moderate reduction of the 
war duties which were then in force, for the reason that 
they were higher than was necessary for the protection 
of our industries, and, being so, they gave occasion for 
unfriendly criticism of the protective policy, from which 
it should be relieved. He said : 

" * After studying the whole subject as carefully as I 
am able, I am firmly of the opinion that the wisest thing 
that the protectionists in this House can do, is to unite in 
a moderate reduction of duties on imported articles. He 
is not a faithful representative who merely votes for the 
highest rate proposed in order to show on the record that 
he voted for the highest figure, and therefore is a sound 
protectionist. He is the wisest man who sees the tides 
and currents of public opinion, and uses his best efforts to 
protect the industry of the people against sudden col- 



HIS CONGRESSIONAL CAREER. 191 

lapses and sudden changes. Now, if I do not misunder- 
stand the signs of the times, unless we do this ourselves, 
prudently and wisely, we shall before long be compelled 
to submit to a violent reduction, made rudely and without 
discrimination, which will shock, if not shatter, all our 
protected industries. 

" * The great want of industry is a stable policy ; and 
it is a significant comment on the character of our legisla- 
tion that Congress has become a terror to the business 
men of the country. This very day the great industries 
of the nation are standing still, half paralyzed at the un- 
certainty which hangs over our proceedings here. A dis- 
tinguished citizen of my own district has lately written to 
me this significant sentence : ' If the laws of God and 
nature were as vascillating and uncertain as the laws of 
Congress in regard to the business of its people, the uni- 
verse would soon fall into chaos.' 

" ' Examining thus the possibilities of the situation, I 
believe that the true course for the friends of protection 
to pursue is to reduce the rates on* imports whenever we 
can justly and safely do so; and, accepting neither of the 
extreme doctrines urged on this floor, endeavor to estab- 
lish a stable policy that will commend itself to all patri- 
otic and thoughtful people.' 

" General Schenck's bill passed the House June 6, 
187U, General Garfield voting for it in company with all 
the protectionists in that body. It passed the Senate dur- 
ing the same mo ith, such leading protectionists as Sena- 
tors Howe, Scott, Morrill, of Vermont, Sherman, and 
Wilson voting for it. The bill reduced the duties on a 
long list of articles — pig iron, for instance, from $9 to 



192 JAMES A. GAIIFIELD : 

$7 — but it was a triumph of the protective policy, and 
a disastrous defeat of the free traders and revenue re- 
formers, who had favored still lower duties. It embodied 
provisions that are retained in the existing tariff, with 
which all protectionists are entirely satisfied. 
* In 1872, two years after the passage of General 
Schenck's bill, a bill, to reduce duties on imports and 
to reduce internal taxes, wms reported to the House 
of Representatives by Mr. Dawes, the chairman of the 
Ways and Means Committee, and after discussion it 
passed by a large majority, such prominent protectionists 
as Dawes, Frye, Foster, Frank W. Palmer, Ellis H. Rob- 
erts, William A. Wheeler, and George F. Hoar voting for 
it. General Garfield voted for it. Judae Kellev and 
sixty other protectionists voted against it. It became a 
law, passing the Senate by a two-thirds vote, such lead- 
ing protectionists as Ferry, Howe, the two Morrills, jNIor- 
tun, Sherman, and Wilson supporting it. Protectionists, 
as will be seen, were not united upon the merits of this 
bill, which, among other provisions, reduced the duty on 
many iron and steel products ten [icr cent., but there 
was no conflict of principle involved in their ditferences 
— nothing but a question of expediency. 

In 1875, three years after the passage of the bill just 
referred to, Mr. Dawes, still chairman of the Ways and 
Means Committee, reported a bill to farther protect the 
sinking fund and to provide the exigencies of the Gov- 
ernment, which provided among other things for the res- 
ioration of the ten per cent, which had been taken from 
the duties on iron and steel by the act of 1872. This bill 
passed the House by a close vote, General Garfield vot- 



HIS CONGRESSIONAL CAREER. 193 

ing for it, as did nearly every protectionist in the House 
The bill passed the Senate and became a law, the vote 
being very close — yeas thirty, nays twenty-nine. The 
protectionists in the Senate were almost unanimously in 
favor of it. Mr. Sherman made a strong speech against 
it, and Mr. Scott and Mr. Frelinghuysen very ably sup- 
ported it. Mr. Sherman voted against it. The passage 
of this bill gave great encouragement to our prostrated 
iron and steel industries. 

" The next tariff measure that came before Congress 
was the bill of Mr. Morrison, which was presented in the 
House in 1876, but was so vigorously opposed that it 
never reached the dignity of a square vote upon its 
merits. Two years afterwards Mr. Wood vmdertook the 
preparation of a tariff bill which greatly reduced duties 
on most articles of foreign manufacture, and which he 
confidently hoped might become a law. This bill pos- 
sessed more vitality than that of Mr. Morrison, and it 
was with great difficulty that the friends of protection 
were able to secure its defeat. In the early as well as 
in the later stages of the struggle there was no uncer- 
tainty about the position of General Garfield ; he was 
against the bill. On the 4th of June he delivered an 
elaborate speech against it in Committee of the Whole, 
in the course of which he said : 

" ' I would have the duty so adjusted that every great 
American industry can fairly live and make fair profits. 
The chief charge I make against this bill is that it seeks 
to cripple the protective features of the law.' 

" He further said, in concluding his speech : 

" ' A bill so radical in its character, so dangerous to 

13 



] 94 JAMES A. GARFIELD : 

our business prosperity, would work infinite mischief at 
ihis time, when the country is just recovering itself from 
a long period of depression and getting again upon solid 
ground, just coming up out of the wild sea of panic and 
distress which has tossed up so long. 

" ' Let it be remembered that twenty-two per cent, 
ef nil the laboring people of this country are artisans 
engaged in manufactures. Their culture has been fos- 

c CD 

tered by our tariff laws. It is their pursuits and the 
skill which they have developed that produced the glory 
of our Centennial Exhibition. To them the country 
owes the splendor of the position it holds before the 
world more than to any other equal number of our citi- 
zens. If this bill becomes a law, it strikes down their 
occupation and throws into the keenest distress the 
brightest and best elements of our population. 

"*When the first paragraph has been read, I will 
propose to strike out the enacting clause. If the com 
mittee will do that, we can kill the bill to-day.' 

" On the day following the delivery of General Gar- 
field's speech, his suggestion to strike out the enacting 
clause was carried into effect, upon motion of Mr, Con- 
ger, and the bill was killed — yeas 134, nays 121. Tiie 
majority against the bill was only 13. 

" During the recent session of Congress a vigorous 
effort was made to break down the tariff by piecemeal 
legislation. ' Divide and conquer ' was the motto of the 
free traders. They were defeated in every effort to 
reduce duties, and in every instance they encountered 
General Garfield's opposition. Iron and steel manufac- 
turers have good cause to remember his vote in the 



HIS CONGRESSIONAL CAREER. 195 

Wn3's and Means Committee last March, on the bill of 
Mr. Covert to reduce the duty on steel rails. General 
Garjfield voted with Judge Kelley and Messrs. Conger, 
Frye, Felton, Gibson, and Phelps against any reduction, 
and that was the end of Mr. Covert's bill — the vote 
being seven against to six in favor of it. Had the bill 
prevailed, the entire line of duties on iron and steel and 
other manufactures would have been seriously en- 
dangered. 

" Such is General Garfield's tariff record, and as we 
have already stated, it is entirely satisfactory to pro- 
tectionists. He has been charged with beiog a member 
of the British free trade Cobden Club, but he has re- 
peatedly declared over his own signature that the use 
of his name by the Cobden Club was wholly unautho- 
rized by him, and that its free trade doctrines did not 
meet with his approval. If the club thought, by the 
conferring of an empty compliment, to entrap him into 
an expression of sympathy with its philosophy of sel- 
fishness and greed, it failed signally. 

" General Garfield is a candidate for the Presidency. 
With that we have nothing to do. Our readers will 
vote for or against him as they please. But General 
Garfield has rendered great service to the cause of home 
industry during his public career, and we would have 
been untrue to ourselves and to every individual mem- 
ber of this association if we had not testified as we 
have done to the excellence and fulness of that service, 
now that his tariff record has been misrepresented. 
American iron and steel manufacturers have found him 
a wise friend in time of need, and we say so gratefully." 



196 JAMES A. GARFIELD : 

In 1866 General Garfield was again a candidate 
for the House of Representatives. A few of his con- 
stituents living in the Mahoning Valley, an iron pro- 
ducing district, opposed his nomination on the ground 
that he did not favor as high a tariff on iron as they 
wanted. The Convention, however, was overwhelm- 
ingly on his side, and he was nominated with enthu- 
siasm, and elected by a majority of 10,000 votes. At 
the meeting of Congress General Garfield was appointed 
by the Speaker of the House Chairman of the Committee 
on Military Affairs. In this position he rendered good 
service to the country and to his party. His commit- 
tee was kept busy remodelling the regular army to suit 
the altered needs of the country, and looking after the 
demands of the discharged soldiers for pay and bounty, 
of which many had been deprived by the red tape de- 
cisions of the accounting officers of the Government. 

In 1868 Gen. Garfield was opposed in the nominat- 
ing convention of his district by Darius Caldwell, of Ash- 
tabula, who secured forty votes. General Garfield was, 
however, nominated by a handsome majority, and elected 
as usual by the people at the polls. He continued to 
serve on the Military Committee of the House, adding to 
his reputation and rendering good service to the country. 

In 1870 General Garfield was again elected to Con- 
gress, this time without opposition. In 1872 a few blank 
ballots were cast in the convention, and the Liberal Re- 
publicans ran a candidate in opposition to him at tiie 
polls, but he was elected by his usual triumphant ma- 
jority. 

At the meeting of the forty-second Congress in 1871, 



I 



mS CONGRESSIONAL GAREER. 197 

General Garfield was appointed by the Speaker, Chair- 
man of the House Committee on Appropriations, and 
held this position nntil the elections of 1874 gave the 
Democrats control of the House. In this important posi- 
tion he largely reduced the expenditures of the Govern- 
ment, and thoroughly reformed the system of estimates 
and appropriations, providing for closer accountability on 
the part of those who spend the public money, and a 
clear knowledge, on the part of those who vote it, of what 
it is used for. 

A fair idea of the manner in which General Garfield 
carried out the work of his committee may be gained 
from the following. The Sundry Civil Appropriation 
BiU for 1872 was passed by the House and sent to the 
Senate, where several amendments were tacked on to it. 
These amendments did not all meet the approval of Gen- 
eral Garfield, and on the 8th of June, 1872, he rose in 
the House, as Chairman of the Appropriation Committee, 
and said : 

" I ask the House to allow me to submit the proposi- 
tion to non-concur in all the amendments of the Senate to 
the Sundry Civil Appropriation Bill, and to accede to the 
request of the Senate for a Committee of Conference." 

Mr. Campbell, of Ohio, said : " I hope the suggestion 
of the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations 
(Mr. Garfield) will be accepted. By accepting it the 
minority will lose none of their privileges, for they will 
have the same right to make dilatory motions after the 
report of the Committee of Conference comes before the 
House that they now have." 

Mr. Bec-k, of Kentucky, said : " This side of the 



198 JAMES A. GARFIELD: 

House will, I have no doubt, vote unanimously for the 
bill as it came from the Senate, with the exception of the 
bayonet clause. If the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Gar- 
field) will offer a substitute containing every proposition 
of the Senate except that, we will assent to it." 

Mr. Garfield said, " If the ' bayonet clause,' as the 
gentleman terms it, were off, and all the other amend- 
ments of the Senate were retained, I should be compelled 
to vote against the bill, because there are appropriations 
to the amount of more than a million and a half of dol- 
lars which have been put on by the Senate, to which, 
as Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, I can 
never consent. ... I ask the gentlemen to allow me 
to take the sense of the House on my proposition." 

The question was taken, and (two-thirds not voting 
in favor thereof) it was decided in the negative. 

After some further debate, Mr. Garfield said : " I have 
sent a resolution to the desk, which I ask to be read." 

The clerk then read as follows : 

" Resolved, That the House non-concur in the amend- 
ments of the Senate to the House Bill No. 2705, being 
the Sundry Civil Appropriation Bill, and agree to a con- 
ference thereon ; and that upon the appointment of such 
committee, the House do take a recess until eight o'clock 
on Monday morning." 

The question being put, the resolution was adopted. 

The Chair announces the appointment of Mr. Gar- 
field, of Ohio, Mr. Palmer, of Iowa, and Mr. Niblack of 
Indiana, as the conferees on the part of the House, on the 
disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the amendments 
of the Senate to the bill H. R. No. 2705. 



HIS CONGUESSIONAL CAREER. 1% 

On the 10th of June, Mr. Garfield, of Ohio, said : " ] 
rise to make a privileged report." 

The clerk read the report of the Committee of Con 
ference on the Civil Sundry Appropriation Bill. 

After some remarks by Mr. Kelley, of Pennsylvania, 
in opposition to the report, Mr. Garfield said : 

" On the merits of the amendment now in debate by 
itself considered, I will not now speak. No man on this 
floor regrets more than I do tJhat the House was brought 
to a dead-lock on a question of this sort appended to a 
general appropriation bill. But there is another phase of 
the subject which rises altogether above that amendment 
or any other amendment that can be brought into this 
House. To discuss that greater question I must call the 
attention of members to the parliamentary history of this 
bill. It is one of the twelve great appropriation bills ne- 
cessary for carrying on the Government. After being 
considered forty days in the Committee of Appropriations, 
after being elaborately debated in this House, it went to 
the Senate, and, after having there encountered storm 
and tempest of no ordinary character, it came back to the 
House with such amendments as the Senate saw fit to 
add. Again in the House, it was a bill in order under the 
rules of parliamentary law, for our rules do not allow us 
to rule as out of order an amendment added by the Sen- 
ate. The bill, then, being in order, there were but five 
courses of action open to the Houses in the ordinary pro- 
cesses of legislation. The first was to refer it back to the 
Committee on Appropriations, to be considered and brought 
back subject to the order of the House. The second was, 
we might have referred it to the Committee of the Whole 



iiOO JAMES A. GARFIELD: 

on the state of the Union, where it would have been open 
to debate and amendment on every one of the ninety-three 
amendments, and then to be reported back to the House 
to await the further order of this body. A third course 
was, that we should proceed to consider it in open House 
under the five minutes^ rule, subject to amendments and 
debate. A fourth plan was to non-concur in all the Sen- 
ate amendments and send the bill to a committee of con 
ference, to be again brought back into the House. There 
was a fifth plan, to concur in all the Senate amendments, 
and then send the bill to the President for his approval 

" Now, there is no other ordinary course to be taken 
with an appropriation bill, and I call the attention of the 
House to the fact that I and my associates on the Com- 
mittee on Appropriations tried again and again in the 
House each and all of these five ordinary courses of pro- 
cedure, and again and again did the minority of this 
House refuse to allow the House to take either of these 
courses until late at night of Saturday, and after a twelve 
hours' session, and then only on condition that the non- 
concurrence and reference to a conference committee 
should be coupled with a recess which should bring us 
within four hours of the final adjournment of Congress. 
In other words, the minority have for days refused to 
allow the usual legislative processes to be employed in 
reference to a great and necessary public measure ; they 
have refused to allow it to be debated or considered ex- 
cept upon terms of their own dictation wholly beyond the 
ordinary range of parliamentary order. 

" Mr. Speaker, a question has, therefore, arisen, in its 
importance far above any item in this bill, and it is simply 



HIS CONGRESSIONAL CAREER. 



201 



this : shall the majority of the members of this House 
have the right to consider and act upon a great appropri- 
ation bill in the mode provided in th« rules ? The mo- 
ment a minority, however large, deny that proposition, 
that moment we are in the midst of a parliamentary revo- 
lution, and legislation of any sort is impossible for ever- 
more until that position be utterly abandoned. In saying 
this I do not fail to recognize the utmost right of the mi- 
nority to make dilatory motions for any and all legitimate 
purposes. I recognize that right whenever the minority 
is being oppressed by any parliamentary proceeding. If, 
for instance, we should insist that a bill should be passed 
without being read, I would filibuster as long as any man 
here to prevent it, if it were a bill that I did not under- 
stand or approve. 

" Mr. Eldredge, of Wisconsin, said : I want to ask a 
question on this particular point, as to what was said by 
him to gentlemen on this side of the House, and to me 

personally. 

" Mr. Garfield. — When we went into the conference 
committee, we sat two hoars on Saturday night, running 
our session into midnight. 

" We met on Sunday, and sat eight hours continu- 
ously. At the end of six hours we had finished, to the 
satisfaction of the conferees, every other item of disagree- 
ment between the two Houses. When we reached the 
tenth amendment, the one in dispute, the Senate con- 
ferees informed us that they could make no report that 
did not treat of that subject in it ; that the report must 
be one and a whole. The committee on the part of the 
House was then compelled to adopt one of two courses, 



202 JAMES A. GARFIEL© : 

either at eight o'clock on Monday morning, four hour? 
before the time fixed for final adjournment, bring back a 
report that they had made no progress whatever, thai 
nothing was agreed to, nothing settled, thus making it 
wholly impossible to reach an adjustment before twelve 
o'clock, or to bring in a report concurring in something. 

" After mature deliberation, we thought it to be our 
duty to bring in a report, and in order to do that we 
proposed a substitute to the Senate's tenth amendment. 
That substitute consists, in the main, of the enforcement 
bill sent to the House by the Senate a few weeks since ; 
but there are two or three important modifications put on 
that at the suggestion of the House conferees. 

" The amendment thus guarded is clearly within the 
provisions of the Constitution, which empower Congress 
to regulate the time, place, and manner of holding elec- 
tions for the representatives in Congress. Now, the 
Committee of Conference having brought in a report un- 
der the rules, I do now insist, and shall continue to de- 
mand, that the bill before the House shall be acted on ; 
and against all factions and revolutionary resistance I 
propose to stand, if need be, until December next, until 
this appropriation bill shall be considered, shall be voted 
on, voted up or voted down. 

" And now, once for all, I say to the gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Mr. Eldredge), and to the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Kelley), that I have said no word to 
them or to any man inconsistent with the declarations 1 
have made in these remarks. I challenge any man to 
the proof, if he venture to join the issue. 

After some debate, Mr. Kelley, of Pennsylvania, 



<£ 



HIS CONGRESSIONAL CAREER. 203 

moved to recommit the report to the committee, and his 
motion was sustained by the House, by a vote of yeas 
99, nays 79, 62 members not voting. 

" Subsequently, Mr. Garfield, of Ohio, said : Mr. 
Speaker, I desire to submit the following report from the 
the Committee of Conference. 

" The clerk read as follows : 

" The Committee of Conference on the disagreeing 
votes of the two Houses on the amendments to the bill 
(H. R. No. 2705) making appropriations for sundry civil 
expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending 
June 30, 1873, and for other purposes, having met, after 
full and free conference, have been unable to agree. 

James A. Garfield, 
Frank W. Palmer, 
Wm. E. Niblack, 
Managers on the part of the House. 

Cornelius Cole, 
Geo. F. Edmunds, 
John W. Stevenson. 
Managers on the part of the Senate. 

" Mr. Garfield, of Ohio. — The Senate originally asked 
for a committee of conference in reference to the dis- 
agreeing votes of the two Houses on this bill, and I sup- 
pose they will make known their wishes, I do not know 
but the House might hasten business by ordering a new 
conference. I move the appointment of a new Confer- 
ence on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the 
bill; and on that motion I demand the previous question. 

" The motion of Mr. Garfield, of Ohio, was agreed to. 



204 JAMES A. GARFIELD : 

"The Speaker. — The chair appoints the same con- 
ferees as managers on the part of the House. 

'^ Mr. Garfield, of Ohio, soon after submitted a privi- 
leged report, and said : In explanation of the report, 1 
desire to state to the House that the main body of the 
report is the same as was presented before. Three im- 
portant changes were made, in view of additional facts 
brought before the Conference Committee as to the 
amount of the sums appropriated. Beyond those three 
changes every word is the same, except what relates to 
the tenth amendment, the matter in contest between the 
two Houses. 

" There are but three changes made in that tenth 
amendment. We strike out the words 'this act or,' in 
the fortieth line of the print which the gentlemen have 
before them. The second change is the forty-third line, 
where we strike out the words ' he resides,' and insert in 
lieu thereof the words ' his duties are to be performed.' 
The third, and the one of chief importance, is the addi- 
tion of a proviso at the end of line sixty-two, in these 
words : 

" ' And provided further, That the supervisors here- 
in provided for shall have no power or authority to 
make arrests or to perform other duties than to be in 
the immediate presence of the officers holding the 
election, and to witness all their proceedings, includ- 
ing the counting of the votes, and the making of a 
return thereof.' 

" The effect of this is that the supervisors autho- 
rized by this act stand by and witness the proceedings 
of the election, and have the official right to stand by ; 



HIS CONGRESSIONAL CAREER. 205 

SO that if frauds are being perpetrated, the Grovernment 
of the United States may have as witnesses a member 
of the Democratic party, and one of the Republican 
party, to the facts in the case. 

" Mr. Eldredge. — I desire to ask the Chairman of the 
Committee on Appropriations if the words ' guarded and 
inspected ' are not retained in the bill. 

'^Mr. Garfield. — No, sir. It is provided that when 
ten citizens in any county or parish in any Congres- 
sional district shall apply to the judge of the district in 
which such county or parish is situated, ' to have said 
registration or election both guarded and scrutinized.' 

" Mr. Eldredge. — Yes, those are the words, ' guarded 
and scrutinized.' 

" Mr. Garfield. — The persons applying express their 
wish to have the elections guarded and scrutinized. 
But the powers of the persons appointed for that pur- 
pose are in terms restricted by the proviso I have read. 

" Mr. Eldredge. — They are to guard and scrutinize 
the election. 

"Mr. Garfield. — The gentleman is in error. The 
words ' guarded and scrutinized apply only to the form 
of application made to the judge. But those words do 
not apply at all to the powers of the persons appointed. 
Their powers are defined and limited by the strong 
language of the proviso which I have just read. They 
are thus made mere witnesses of all the transactions of 
the election. 

" Mr, Kerr, of Indiana, said : Before my colleague 
(Mr. Niblack) takes the floor, I want to ask a question, in 
order to remove any doubt upon the mind of any member 



206 JAMES A. GARFIELD: 

of the House. I desire to know of the Chairman of the 
Committee of Appropriations whether he understands 
that there is anything in the language of this amendment 
that touches the matter of qualifications of electors. 

" Mr. Garfield. — I understand, on the contrary, that 
there is nothing that can touch or change the qualifica- 
tions of electors now provided by law. 

" Mr. Ritchie, of Maryland, said : In the State of 
Maryland the judges of the election have no discretion 
as to the qualifications of voters. They are controlled 
by the registration list ; in fact, they are merely record- 
ing officers. Now, I ask the gentlemen what would be 
the relation of the supervisors contemplated by this 
amendment to our registration and elections ? 

"Mr. Garfield. — That of simply standing by and see- 
ing the work done, without any other power than to 
witness it from beginning to end. 

"Mr. Eldredge. — Gentlemen who have not surren- 
dered their opposition on this question have not yet 
had an opportunity to speak. None of us have had 
that opportunity who feel that we cannot surrender our 
opposition as long as we have the power to resist this 
measure. I ask the gentleman to yield to me for two 
&T three minutes. 

" Mr. Garfield. — Gentlemen all around me insist that 
I shall call the previous question. I cannot yield far- 
ther. 

" Mr. Holman, of Indiana, said : This is the most 
fatal measure ever brought into this Congress. 

" Mr. Haldeman, of Pennsylvania, said : We are not 
going to yield. 



HIS CONGRESSIONAL CAREER. 207 

" Mr. Eldredge. — It is an unconstitutional bill. 

" Mr. Holman. — It is most infamous in its character. 

•' Mr, Garfield. — I now move that the rules be sus- 
pv^nded, and that the House proceed to take an imme- 
diate vote, without dilatory motions, upon agreeing to 
the report of the Committee of Conference. 

"The question was put on the motion of Mr. Gar- 
field to suspend the rules; and there were — yeas 122, 
nays 23. 

" So, two-thirds voting in favor thereof, the rules 
were suspended. 

" The SpGfaker. — The House has directed that it 
now vote by yeas and nays upon this question. Will 
the House agree to the report of the Committee of Con- 
ference on the disagreements of the Senate to the Sun- 
dry Civil Appropriation Bill ? 

" The question was taken ; and it was decided in the 
affirmative, as follows : yens 102, nays 79 ; not voting, 59. 

" So the report of the Committee of Conference was 
agreed to." 

On the 24th of February, 1873, the Appropriation 
Bill being under consideration, Mr. Butler, of Massachu- 
setts, offered an amendment increasing the salaries paid 
to the President and Vice-President of the United States, 
the heads of departments, and the members of Con- 
gress. This measure did not meet with Mr. Garfield's ap- 
proval, and at the close of Mr. Butler's remarks, he said : 

" I desire to answer some of the points which have 
been made in support of this amendment. Some of the 
salaries referred to in the amendment, I doubt not, are too 
low — perhaps all of them. But I feel it to be my duty 



208 JAMES A. GARFIELD : 

to call the attention of the committee to the movement of 
salaries in the last ten years. I hold in my hand a ptato- 
ment of salaries other than legislative, as they were paid 
,in 1860. The total amount of the salaries of officers of 
this government, in the several executive departments 
here in Washington in 1860, was $809,864.67. The war 
so greatly increased our civil service, that now, in the 
year just closed, in the calendar year 1872, the total 
for the same classes of salaries with the increase of bu- 
reaus that have been put on the various departments, 
was $3,598,878.35, being an increase of $2,789,113.68. 

" Now the fact that the salaries of the officers of the 
Government other than legislative, have been thus in- 
creased in the twelve years, is a fact that the House 
ought to know. And when it is proposed to increase the 
salaries by a sum I think somewhere in the neighborhood 
of a million and a half or two millions of dollars in one 
amendment, I feel it my duty to show them what the 
total of the salaries will be. 1, of course, believe that the 
propositions in this amendment ought to be separated. 
Some of them gentlemen ought doubtless to vote for. 
But to pass that amendment in the lump, as laid before 
the committee now, I do not think it just, I do not think 
it equitable, and I do not think the House will do it ; it 
ought not to be done." 

Notwithstanding General Garfield's opposition, the 
bill passed the House, and was sent to the Senate, where 
it was amended. The amendments were not satisfactory 
to the House, and a Committee of Conference was ap- 
pointed. It resulted in the presentation of a bill by Gen- 
eral Garfield, making a large increase in the salaries of the 



HIS CONGRESSIONAL CAREER. 209 

Executive officers of the Government and members of 
Congress. On the 3d of March, 1873, in presenting this 
bill, General Garfield said : 

" Mr. Speaker, if I can have the attention of the 
House, I will explain the points embraced in this report, 
in reference to the salaries of the President, Vice-Presi- 
dent, Cabinet officers, members of the Supreme Court, 
and members of the two Houses of Congress. The 
amendment known as the Butler Amendment was agreed 
to by the Senate in everything except the provision in 
reference to the salaries of members of Congress. I wish 
to state in a few words the condition of that question in 
the conference. In the first place the Senate voted di- 
rectly on the proposition to strike out the provision 
increasing the salary of members of Congress, and by a 
large vote refused to strike it out. The Senate conferees 
insisted that the $6,500 clause, cutting off mileage, actu- 
ally reduced the pay of some eighteen members of the 
Senate. They refused, therefore, to submit to an amend- 
ment which cut down the salary of so many senators. 
The Senate conferees were unanimous in fixing the sal- 
ary at $7,500, and cutting off all allowances except ac- 
tual individual travelling expenses of a member from his 
home to Washington and back once a session, and cutting 
off all other allowances of every kind. That proposition 
was agreed to by a majority of the conferees on the part 
of the House. I was opposed to the increase in confer- 
ence as I have been opposed to it in the discussion and rn 
my votes here, but my associate conferees were in favor 
of the Senate amendment, and I was compelled to choose 
between signing the report and running the risk of bring- 

14 



210 JAMES A. GARFIELD : 

ing on an extra session of Congress. I have signed the 
report, and I present it as it is, and ask the House to act 
on it in accordance with their best judgment. 

** Mr. Hibbard, of New Hampshire, said : I desire to 
nsk the gentleman how much plunder will be taken from 
the treasury if this raising of salaries is adopted ? 

" Mr. Garfield. — I am glad the gentleman has asked 
me that question. The report presented here, taking into 
account the changes made with reference to the salaries of 
members and officers of both Houses and other increases 
of salaries in this bill, will, according to the best estimate 
I have been able to make, involve an annual increase of 
about three-quarters of a million of dollars. 

" Mr. Hibbard. — How much for the present Congress ? 

" Mr. Garfield. — For the present Congress it involves 
nn additional expenditure of about one and a quarter mil- 
lion. I think the House ought to know all the facts." 

On the final passage of the bill Gen. Garfield voted for 
it, for the same reasons that induced him to sustain the 
report of the committee of conference. He was sharply 
criticised for his course, for the measure proved one of 
the most objectionable to the country ever adopted by 
Congress. While satisfied of the propriety of his conduct, 
General Garfield was yet sensitive to the criticisms upon 
him. He wrote to a friend as ^ollows in relation to his 
conduct : 

" Hiram, Ohio, April 21, 1873. 

" Dear Friend : — Your kind and welcome letter of the 
11th instant came duly to hand, for which I thank you. 
When I went into the army I did so expecting to follow 
the path of duty, whether it led me to life or death. In 



HIS CONGRESSIONAL CAREER. 211 

entering Congress T undertook to follow the path of duty- 
there, whether it led to political life or political death. I 
have cast many thousands of votes during my ten years 
of service, and none with a more conscientious conviction 
that I was doing right than the one for which I am so much 
blamed. Perhaps the people will never so understand it, 
but I believe most of them will some day. They .may think 
I made a mistake, and they may be right about it. But I 
am sure that fair-minded men, when they fully understand 
the case, will see that I acted from worthy motives, and 
tried to do my duty. I have addressed a letter to the 
district, which will appear in this week's paper. They 
will see that I did all I could to keep the salary clause off 
from my bill, and when that effort failed I did what I 
could to reduce the amount appropriated, and that by 
standing by the bill I saved the treaswy several hundred 
thousand dollars. 

" In 1856, Mr. Giddings voted for a large increase of 
pay of members of Congress, and the pay then dated back 
sixteen months. It passed the House then by one ma- 
jority, and Mr. Giddings' vote turned the scale. It was 
not a part of an appropriation bill, but stood alone on its 
own merits. Mr. Giddings was not censured, but was, 
that same full, renominated and re-elected. They did not 
call him a thief nor a robber ; now they call me both, 
when I did more than any other member to prevent the 
increase of salaries. I believe that, in the long run, the 
people wiU be just. As ever, your friend, 

" J. A. Garfield." 

By the terms of the salary bill General Garfield was 



212 JAMES A. GARFIELD : 

entitled to $5,000 back pay as a member of the House. 
lie drew the amount, but as his ideas of duty would not 
permit him to appropriate it to his own use, he promptly 
paid it back into the treasury of the United States. 
Shortly after the nomination of Greneral Garfield for the 
Presidency, some of his political opponents declared that 
while he had not used his back pay for his own wants, he 
had made a present of it to Hiram College. With regard 
to this a Cleveland reporter called upon Professor B. A. 
Hinsdale, the President of Hiram College, and said to 
him: 

" I understand that a story is being told in certain 
sections that General Garfield made a proposition to Hi- 
ram College, viz., that he would draw from the United 
States Treasury the $5,000 due him by the back salary 
grab, and give it to the college, providing the trustees 
were willing to accept it. Now, President Hinsdale, what 
are the facts in the case concerning this ?" 

Mr. Hinsdale answered with considerable vehemence : 
" I have received several letters of inquiry concerning 
this matter. I have answered all inquiries with a point- 
blank denial. General Garfield never made any such 
proposition to me or to anybody else connected with Hi- 
ram College. The story is false as a whole, in all its 
particulars, in its inception, and in its spirit. I wrote to 
Mr. Davis if there was a man in Salem who professed to 
have been present at this fictitious presentation scene, 
he would please say to said man for me that there is 
not a word of truth in the story he is telling ; that he 
was never present at any such scene ; that there never 
was any such scene; and that he would also tell him 



HIS CONGRESSIONAL CAREER. 213 

that he had better find some better trade than that of 
slander." 

The case was so clear and the proofs so convenient to 
produce, that General Garfield had no trouble in refuting 
this slander. 

The first session of the forty-third Congress com- 
menced on the 1st of December, 1873. On the 8th ol 
December a special committee reported a bill to the House 
to repeal the increase of certain salaries, adopted March 3, 
1873, and to restore the former rates, to wit, for members 
of Congress, etc. On December 9 th the bill was con 
sidered. 

" Mr. Wilson, of Indiana, said : Mr. Speaker, the sub- 
ject now under consideration is one which has attracted 
much public attention. The action of the forty-second 
Congress, in passing the act by which the salaries of sen- 
ators and representatives were increased, which it is now 
proposed to repeal, and especially that feature of it where- 
by increased pay was made to date from the beginning of 
the Congress, has met with the fiercest denunciation. Not 
only those who voted for it, but those who voted against 
it, yet received its benefits, have been stigmatized as 
thieves and robbers. 

" It matters not how many years of faithful service 
had been devoted to the country, nor how exalted a char- 
acter for integrity had been builded up, this one act has 
been deemed an unpardonable sin, and treated as an un- 
mitigated criminality. While indulging in this wholesale 
denunciation, no one stopped to consider the circumstances 
under which any member happened to be placed, and 
.which to him, and to any reasonable man, might seem to 



214 JAMES A. GARFIELD : 

make it his duty to vote for the measure ; no difference 
of opinion was permitted as to its justice ; no appeal to 
reason would be listened to. My distinguished friend 
from Ohio (Mr. Garfield), who strwggled against it until, 
in a conference report which he had resisted to the last, 
it was brought before the House attached to one of the 
most important appropriation bills, and then, as all of us 
who are familiar with the facts must confidently believe 
(and it is but justice to him to say so here), voted for it 
in the conscientious discharge of his duty to the country, 
has fared no better than any one else." 

After some lengthy remarks by other members, Mr. 
Garfield said : 

" Mr. Speaker, there was so much to admire in the 
speech to which the House has just listened, that it may 
seem ungracious to say anything in conflict with the doc- 
trines announced. And yet the distinguished gentleman 
(Mr. Stephens, of Georgia) has said some things so strik- 
ingly different from the views generally entertained by 
the American people, that I venture to offer a few sugges- 
tions by way of reply, while the subject is still fresh in 
the minds of his hearers. 

"All that the gentleman said in regard to the rela- 
tion of public opinion to representative men will, I pre- 
sume, be cordially concurred in by those who heard him. 
The real leaders of the people — they who give voice to the 
best thoughts or aspirations of their countrymen — are im- 
measurably above those who consult public passion only 
to cater to its worst tendencies. It is a high and worthy 
work to study public opinion, for the purpose of learning 
How best to serve the public good ; but to study to learn • 



HIS CONGRESSIONAL CAREER. 215 

how best to serve ourselves is base. But it is important 
that we understand what we mean by public opinion. It 
is not an infallible standard of right, for it is sometimes 
wholly wrong. Its judgments are frequently revised 
and reversed by its own consent. But it is true that, 
after a full hearing, public opinion finally adjusts itseH 
on a basis which will be practically just and true. lie 
greatly errs who calls all the passing and changing words 
of the public mind the fixed and final verdict of public 
judgment. 

" The public opinion that teaches its most valuable 
and impressive lessons resembles the ocean — ^not when 
lashed by the breath of the tempest — but when seen in 
the grandeur of its all-pervading calm. The men who 
shall take the dash and roar of its wild waves on the 
rocks as their symbol of public opinion will not only fail to 
learn its best lessons, but may find themselves wrecked on 
its breakers. But the sea in its hour of calm, when the 
forces that play upon it are in equipoise — when its depths 
are un vexed by tempests — is the grand level by which all 
the heights and depths of the world are measured. And 
so public opinion, though it may at times dash itself in 
fury against events and against men, will at last settle 
down into broad and settled calm, and will mark the level 
on which we gauge our political institutions, and measure 
the strength and wisdom of opinions and men. 

" While recognizing thus, the general justness and 
the almost omnipotent power of public opinion in a gov- 
ernment like ours, it is equally important that the indi- 
vidual man should not be the servile and unquestioning 
follower of its behests. We may value it as a guide, 



216 JAMES A. GARFIELD : 

we may accept its lessons, but we should never be its 
slaves. 

" There is a circle of individual right within which 
every man's opinions are sacredly his own, even in defi- 
ance of public opinion, and which his manhood and self- 
respect demand that he shall never surrender. But there 
are public questions like that which we are to-day consid- 
ering, on which the voice of public opinion has a right to 
be heard and considered by every representative in the 
national legislature. 

" Now, if we were legislating for the ideal republic of 
Plato, I do not know that a wiser plan of compensation 
could be found than that proposed by the distinguished 
irontleman from Georgia (Mr. Stephens). If we lived in 
a world where the highest power was the best paid, his 
scheme would be perfect, and his argument unanswerable. 
Bat, so far as I have studied life, exactly the reverse is 
the accepted rule. The things that have the highest 
marketable value in the world, as we find it, are not the 
things that stand highest in the intellectual or moral 
scale. 

" One of the brightest and perhaps greatest men I 
know in this nation, a man who, perhaps, has done as 
much for its intellectual life as any other, told me, not 
manv months ago, that he had made it the rule of his life 
to abandon any intellectual pursuit the moment it be- 
came commercially valuable; that others would utilize 
what he had discovered ; that his field of work was 
above the line of commercial values ; and when he 
hrought down the great truths of science from the upper 
heights to the level of commercial value?, a thousand 



HIS CONGRESSIONAL CAREER. 217 

hands would be ready to take them and make them val- 
uable in the markets of the world. 

" A voice- — ' Who was he ?' . 

" Mr. Garfield. — It was Agassiz. He entered upon his 
great career, not for the salary it gave him, for that was 
meagre compared with the pay of those in the lower walks 
of life ; but he followed the promptings of his great na- 
ture, and works for the love of the truth, and for the in- 
struction of mankind. Something of this spirit pervaded 
the lives of the great men who did so much to build up 
and maintain our Republican institutions. And this spirit 
is, in my judgment, higher and worthier than that which 
the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Stephens) has described. 

" To come immediately to the question before us, I 
agree with the distinguished gentleman that we should 
not be driven or swayed by that unjust clamor that calls 
men thieves who voted as they had the constitutional 
right to votC;^ and accepted a compensation which they 
had the legal and constitutional right to take. I join in 
no clamor of that sort ; nor will I join in any criminations 
against those who used their right to act and vote differ- 
ently from myself on this subject. It is idle to waste 
our time now in discussing the votes of the last Congress 
in relation to the Salary Bill. We are called upon to 
confront this plain, practical question, ^ Shall the Salary 
Bill of the last Congress be repealed ?' I shall argue it 
on two grounds : first, the just demands of public opin- 
ion ; second, the relation of this repeal to the Govern- 
ment and its necessities ; and I shall confine my remarks 
to these two points. I think it cannot be doubted that 
public opinion plainly and clearly demands the repeal; 



218 JAMES A. GARFIELD : 

and on a subject like this, the voice of the people should 
have more than ever its usual weight. 

" When the public says to me, and to those associated 
with me, that we have under constitutional law given 
ourselves more pay than that public is willing to grant 
us, it would be indelicate and indecent in us on such a 
question to resist that public opinion. 

" It does not compromise the manhood, the indepen- 
dence, or the self-respect of any representative to say 
that he will not help to keep on the statute book a law 
which allows him more pay than public opinion thinks he 
ought to have. Even if he believes public opinion wrong, 
he ought to yield to it in a matter of such delicacy. 

" That is all the argument I make on the score of 
public opinion. 

" I now come to the other point, the necessities of 
the Government. Gentlemen must remember that only 
seven years ago our expenditures had risen to a vol- 
ume that was simply frightful, in view of the burdens 
of the country. We were then paying out over the 
counter of our treasury $1,290,000,000 a year as the 
cost of sustaining the Government and meeting the great 
expenses entailed by the war. What was the duty of 
this national legislature ? Manifestly to bring the ex- 
penses of the Government down as rapidly as possibly 
from the high level of war to the normal level of peace. 

"If, therefore, the forty-third Congress intends to go 
forward in the work of economy and retrenchment, if 
it has any hope of making further reductions in the ex- 
penditures of this Government, we must, before under- 
ttiking to carry out that work, give ourselves the moral 



,T 



HIS CONGRESSIONAL CAREER. 



219 



power that will result from a reduction of our own pay 
to the old standard. As the ease stands to-day, our own 
salaries are the master key in our hands by which alone 
we can turn the machinery that will bring about a 
further reduction of expenses in the Government. 

" Mr. Speaker, I say all this on the theory that we 
are to run -the Government as our fathers who made it 
intended it should be run— not on the principle of the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Stephens), a principle 
that would make this the most expensive government on 
the globe, but on the old principle that there is some- 
thmg due to the honor of the service we perform." 



CHAPTER VII. 

3ENERAL GARFIELD LEADS THE REPUBLICAN OPPOSITION IS 

ELECTED TO THE SENATE. 

Efforts to defeat General Garfield for Congress — His triumphant Re-election 
— The Democrats have a Majority in the House — Garfield loses his Chair- 
manship—One of the Repitblican Leaders — A sharp Arraignment of the 
Democratic Party — The Democratic Graveyard— Ohio goes Republican — 
General Garfield nominated for United States Senator — Is the Republi- 
can Candidate for Speaker of the House — A Member of two important 
Committees — Becomes the Republican Leader in the House — Garfield 
pours a Broadside into the Democratic Ranks — A Withering Denunciation 
of Democratic Policy— Reply to Mr. Tucker, of Virginia — Garfield breaks 
the Democratic Line — Delight of the Republicans in the House — Com- 
ments of the New York Herald — Appeal in behalf of the Loyal Men of 
the South— Speech on the Judicial Expenses Bill — Speech at Madison 
Wisconsin — Speech at the Andersonville Re-union — Plain Talking on a 
Sad Subject— General Garfield is Elected to the United States Senate— 
His Arrival at Columbus — Recepiion at the Capital — His Remarks — Ad 
dress of President Hinsdale on Garfield's Election— Speech of General 
Garfield on Democratic Nullification. 

In the elections of 1874, the Republican party suffered 
heavy reverses in the Congressional districts. The re- 
sult was that a Democratic majority was returned to the 
House of Representatives. General Garfield was renom- 
inated by his district, receiving nearly every vote in 
the Convention, but at the polls a determined effort was 
made by the Democrats to defeat him. His vote was 
cut down from 19,189 in 1872, to 12,591, and an Inde- 



LEADS THE REPUBLICAN OPPOSITION. 221 

pendent Republican polled 3,427 votes; but Garfield 
still had a plurality of 6,346 over his Democratic an- 
tagonist, and a clear majority of 2,919 over all opposi- 
tion. 

The preponderance of the Democratic party in the 
House, of course, gave them the speakership and the con- 
trol of all the committees. General Garfield was removed 
from the chairmanship of the Committee on Appropria- 
tions, and was made the second Republican member of 
the Committee of Ways and Means. He rendered good 
service to his party and the country in this position, and 
by his boldness and brilliancy made himself regarded as 
one of the ablest leaders of the Republican minority in 
the House. In this respect he ranked next in the popu- 
lar estimation to Mr. Blaine, of Maine, to whom the lead- 
ership of the party was conceded — surpassing him, indeed, 
in many things. He held his position on the Committee 
of Ways and Means for four years. 

In 1876 General Garfield was again returned to Con- 
gress by a handsome majority. He had become so use- 
ful to his party that his nomination and election were 
now a matter of certainty. He ably maintained his great 
reputation as a speaker, as the following extract from 
one of his speeches delivered in the House on the 4th 
of August, 1876, will show : 

" Mr. Chairman. — It is now time to inquire as to the 
fitness of this Democratic party to take control of our 
great nation and its vast and important interests for the 
next four years. I put the question to the gentleman 
from Mississippi (Mr. Lamar). What has the Demo- 
cratic party done to merit that great trust ? He tries to 



222 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

show in what respects it wonld not be dangerous. I ask 
him to show in what it would be safe. 

" I affirm, and I believe I do not misrepresent the 
great Democratic party, that in the last sixteen years 
they have not advanced one great national idea that is 
not to-day exploded and as dead as Julius Cossar. And 
if any Democrat here will rise and name a great national 
doctrine his party has advanced, within that time, that 
is now alive and believed in, I will yield to him. (A 
pause.) Tn default of an answer, I will attempt to prove 
my negative. 

" What were the great central doctrines of the 
Democratic party in the Presidential struggle of 1860 ? 
The followers of Breckinridge said slavery had a right 
to go wherever the Constitution goes. Do you believe 
that to-day ? And is there a man on this continent that 
holds that doctrine to-day? Not one. That doctrine 
is dead and buried. The other wing of the Democracy 
held that slavery might be established in the Territories 
if the people wanted it. Does anybody hold that doc- 
trine to-day ? Dead, absolutely dead ! 

" Come down to 1864. Your party, under the lead 
of Tilden and Vallandigham, declared the experiment of 
war to save the Union was a failure. Do you believe 
in that doctrine to-day? That doctrine was shot to 
death by the guns of Farragut at Mobile, and driven, 
in a tempest of fire, from the valley of the Shenan- 
doah by Sheridan, less than a month after its birth at 
Chicago. 

"Come down to 1868. You declared the constitu- 
tional amendments revolutionary and void. Does any 



LEADS THE REPUBLICAN OPPOSITION. 223 

man on this floor say so to-day ? If so, let him rise and 
declare it. 

" Do you believe in the doctrine of the Broadhead 
letter of 1868, that the so-called constitutional amend- 
ments should be disregarded ? No ; the gentleman from 
Mississippi accepts the results of the war ! The Demo- 
cratic doctrine of 1868 is dead ! 

" I walk across that Democratic camping ground as 
in a graveyard. Under my feet resound the hollow 
echoes of tlie dead. There lies Slavery, a black marble 
column at the head of its grave, on which I read : ' Died 
in the flames of the Civil War : loved in its life ; la- 
mented in its death; followed to its bier by its only 
mourner, the Democratic party, but dead ! ' And here 
is a double grave ; ' Sacred to the memory of Squatter 
Sovereignty. Died in the Campaign of I860.' On the 
reverse side ; ' Sacred to the memory of Dred Scott and 
the Breckinridge doctrine. Both dead at the hands of 
Abraham Lincoln ! ' And here a monument of brim- 
stone ; ' Sacred to the memory of the Rebellion : the 
War against it is a failure ; Tilden et Vallandigham — 
fecerimt, a. d. 1864. Dead on the field of battle; shot 
to death by the million guns of the Republic. The doc- 
trine of Secession, of State Sovereignty, dead ! Expired 
in the flames of civil war, amid the blazing rafters of 
the Confederacy, except that the modern ^neas. flee- 
ing out of the flames of that ruin, bears on his back 
another Anchises of State sovereignty, and brings it 
here in the person of the honorable gentleman from the 
Appomattox district of Virginia (Mr, Tucker). All else 
is dead ! 



224 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

"Now, gentlemen, are you sad, are you sorry for 
these deaths? Are you not glad that Secession is dead ? 
that Squatter Sovereignty is dead ? that the doctrine of 
the failure of the War is dead ? Then you are glad 
that you were out-voted in 1860, in 1864, in 1868, and 
in 1872. If you have tears to shed over these losses, 
shed them in the graveyard, but not in this House of 
living men. I know that many a Southern man re- 
joices that these issues are dead. The gentleman from 
.Mississippi (Mr. Lamar) has clothed his joy with elo- 
quence. 

" Now, gentlemen, if you yourselves are glad that 
you have suffered defeat during the last sixteen years, 
will you not be equally glad when you suffer defeat next 
November? But pardon that remark. I regret it; I 
should use no bravado. 

" Now, gentlemen, come with me for a moment into 
the camp of the Republican party and review its career. 
Our central doctrine in 1860 was that slavery should 
never extend itself over another foot of American soil. 
Is that doctrine dead ? It is folded away like a victo- 
rious banner ; its truth is alive for evermore on this conti- 
nent. In 1864 we declared that we would put down the 
rebellion and secession. And that doctrine lives, and will 
live when, the secoHd centennial has arrived. Freedom, 
national, universal and perpetual — our great constitutional 
amendments, are they alive or dead? Alive, thank the 
God that shields both liberty and union. And our 
national credit ! saved from the assaults of Pendleton ; 
saved from the assaults of those who struck it later, rising 
higher and higher at home and abroad j and only now in 



LEADS THK REPUBLICAN OPPOSITION. 225 

doubt lest its chief, its only enemy, the Democracy, should 
triumph in November." 

General Garfield took an active part in the memorable 
campaign of 1877, which did much to restore the State 
of Ohio to the Republican party. In the early part of 
the year he was a candidate for the office of United States- 
Senator from Ohio, to succeed the Hon. John Sherman, 
who had accepted the secretaryship of the Treasury in. 
the cabinet of President Hayes. He withdrew from the 
contest, however, at the special request of President 
Hayes, who assured him he could be of more service to 
the administration as a member of the House than as a 
senator. Mr. Blaine had been elected to the Senate, and 
General Garfield was now the formally recognized leader 
of the Republican party in the House. He held this 
position for several years, displaying in it all his old 
vigor and boldness, and the sound qualities of leadership 
that induced the Republican party to nominate him for 
the Presidency. 

At the meeting of the forty-fifth Congress in 1877, 
General Garfield was the Republican candidate for 
Speaker of the House, and received the full vote of his 
party. ♦ The Democrats being so largely in the ma- 
jority, the Republican nomination and the vote upon it 
were merely complimentary. Hon. Samuel J. Ran- 
dall, of Pennsylvania, was elected Speaker by the Dem- 
ocrats. 

In 1878 General Garfield was again elected to Con 
gress by a handsome majority. 

In the same year, when the Democrats controlled the 
Legislature of Ohio, General Garfield was a candidate for 

15 



226 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

the complimentary vote of liis party for United States 
Senator ; but after a prolonged and bitter contest in the 
(caucus, his name was withdrawn, and it was resolved to 
cast only blank votes in the two Houses. 

The forty-sixth Congress met in extra session on 
the 18th of March, 1879, Genernl Garfield was nomi« 
nated by the Republicans for Speaker of the House, and 
received one hundred and twenty-five votes, but the 
Democratic majority reseated Speaker Randall. The 
Speaker, in reorganizing the standing committees of the 
House, placed General Garfield at the head of the Re- 
publican membership of the Committee of Ways and 
JVIeans. He also appointed him one of the committee 
charged with revising the rules of the House of Repre- 
sentatives, thus paying a high and deserved compliment 
to General Garfield's rare knowledge of parliamentary 
law. 

General Garfield was the acknowledged leader of the 
Republican side of the House during this session. He 
held the Democracy to a strict accountability in forcing 
the extra session upon the country, and denounced their 
■course in withholding the supplies of the Government in 
■order to force upon it an acceptance of their schefmes for 
removing the safeguards that had been thrown around 
the ballot box, which measures he declared were unpa- 
triotic and dangerous. On the 29th of March, 1879, he 
made his great efibrt. The House went into Committee 
of the Whole, Mr. Springer, of Illinois, in the chair, on 
the Army Appropriation Bill. 

" Mr. Stephens, of Georgia, obtained the floor, an<i 
proceeded to speak in a clear A^oice. He did not desir« 



LEADS THE REPUBLICAN OPPOSITION. 227 

to say much outside of the pending point of order. The 
section against which that point had been raised was 
clearly germane to the bill. All laws penal in their cnar- 
acter were to be construed strictly, but laws involving 
questions of public right, public liberty, and public policy 
were to be liberally construed — not strictly. The gentle- 
man from Maine (Mr. Frye) had said that the section 
did not, on its face, retrench expenditures. That was 
not the question. The question was, ' Would it probably 
retrench expenditures ? ' lie thought it would, and not 
only possibly or probably, but certainly. The past his- 
tory of the country showed that enormous expenditures 
had attended the use of troops at elections. He went on 
to argue that the acts of 1795 and 1817 only authorized 
the use of the troops to put down domestic insurrection. 
The provision for the use of troops for civil purposes was 
an entirely different matter. The law authorizing the 
use of troops at the polls had never any existence until 
1865, and the danger of such a law would not, he pre- 
sumed, be denied by anybody. If there was any man 
on the floor who was in favor of peaceable elections and 
order throughout the length and breadth of the land he 
(Mr. Stephens) professed to be equally strong with him 
in that feeling. He was for law and order. He had wit- 
nessed the soldier at tlie polls, and had seen no good of 
it. The country had got along three-fourths of a century 
without having troops at the polls, and the sentiment of 
the people was as much against their presence there now 
as it had ever been. The future harmony, order, and 
prosperity of the country would be greatly promoted by 
hereafter adhering to the principles and precepts of tlie 



228 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

fathers of the Republic. Congress had a right to raiso 
armies and to designate the purpose for which they 
should be used ; and the President's right to control am] 
direct their movements was clearly an executive one, 
with which Congress had no power to interfere. But it 
could say that the executive could not use such forces 
for a particular purpose. It had a right (which he did 
not think the executive would deny) to say that the 
military should not be used at the polls. Let the land 
forces be devoted to protecting the frontier. Let the 
navy be afloat on the sea, protecting the country's flag 
and commerce. Let each be in the sphere to which it 
was entitled, in which, in the past, it had won such honor 
and glory for the common country. Let them perform 
their duties, and let the civil administration of the coun- 
try go on in its own channel. Let members of Congress 
be returned as heretofore, and if any man was defrauded 
of his right, then let the high court of the country, the 
House of Representatives, decide that question, and not 
the bayonet of the soldier. 

REVOLUTIONARY DECISION OF THE CHAIR. 

" The Chairman then proceeded to rule on the point 
of order, which he did by declaring the section to be 
in order, both on the ground of its being germane and of 
its retrenching expenditure. There could scarcely be a 
doubt as to its being germane, for it related to the duties 
of the army, or rather to the uses to which the army may 
be put. * Germane ' did not mean synonymous, but meant 
something near ukin, closely allied, relevant to the sub- 



LEADS THE REPUBLICAN OPPOSITION. 229 

iect. As to the question of retrenching expenditures, 
he referred to the official estimates and to appropriations 
heretofore made to show how much money had been ex- 
pended for transportation and other expenses attending 
the use of the troops at the polls. The ending section 
proposed to retrench such expenditures for the future. 
For these and other reasons the point of order was over- 
ruled. 

" Mr. Conger (Rep.), of Michigan, appealed from the 
i decision of the chair, and the decision was sustained — 
yeas 125, nays 107. 

" Mr. New (Rep.), of Indiana, offered an amendment 
providing that nothing contained in the section should be 
held to abridge or affect the duty or power of the Presi- 
dent under the fourth article of the Constitution to send 
troops into States on the application of the legishiture or 
executive. 

" The amendment was allowed to stand over for the 

present. 

MR. GARFIELD'S SPEECH. 

" Mr. Garfield (Rep.), of Ohio, then took the floor. 
He commenced his speech by referring to the gravity and 
solemnity of the crisis that had now been brought upon 
the country, and declared that the House had, to-day, re- 
solved to enter upon a revolution against the Constitution 
and the Government ; and that the consequence of that 
resolve, if persisted in, meant nothing short of subversion 
of the Government. He sketched the point at issue be- 
tween the two Houses at the close of the last Congress, 
ind read from a report of one of the Senate conferees to 



230 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

the effect that the Democratic conferees on the part of the 
House were determined, unless the action of the House 
was concurred in, to refuse making appropriations to carry 
on the Government, and he also quoted from the speech 
of Senator Beck (another of the conferees) to the effect 
that the Democrats chiimed the right which the House 
of Commons in England had established, after tw^o centu- 
ries of conquest, to say they would not grant the money 
of the people unless there was a redress of grievances. 
These propositions, continued Mr. Garfield, in various 
forms, more or less vehemently, were repeated in the last 
House, and with that situation of affairs the session came 
near its close. The Republican majority in the Senate, 
and the Republican minority in the House, expressed the 
deepest possible solicitude to avoid the catastrophe here 
threatened. They expressed their strongest desire to 
avoid the danger to the country and to its business of an 
extra session of Congress, and they expressed their wil- 
lingness to let go what they considered the least impor- 
tant of the propositions — not as a matter of coercion at 
all, but as a matter of fair adjustment and compromise, if 
they could be met in the spirit of adjustment on the other 
side. Unfortunately, no spirit of adjustment appeared on 
the other side to meet their advances. And now the new 
Congress is assembled, and after ten days of deliberation 
the House of Representatives has resolved substantially 
to reaffirm the propositions of its predecessor, and on these 
propositions we are met to-day. This is no time to enter 
into all this case. I am not prepared for it myself. B ut 
I shall confine myself to the one phase of the issue pre- 
sented in this bilL 



LEADS THE BEPUELICAN OPPOSITION. 23j 

DRAWING THE LINES. 

"Mr. Atkeiis (Dem.), of Ten., asked Mr. Garrield 
whether he understood him to state that there had been no 
proposition to compromise made in Conference Committee. 
" Mr. Garfield replied that he did not undertake to 
state what had been said in the Conference Committee, 
for he had not been a member of the Conference. He baa 
been only stating what had been stated on the floor of the 
House and of the Senate. 

"Mr. Atkins. — Then I state that a proposition was 
made in the Conference Committee the same as the prop- 
osition now before the House, and which is proposed to 
be attached to this bill. 

" Mr. Garfield.— I take it for granted that what my 
friend says is strictly true. I know nothing to the con- 
trary. The question may be asked why we make any 
special resistance to propositions which a great many gen- 
tlemen have declared are to be considered of no impor- 
tance. So far as this side is concerned I desire to say 
this : We recognize you, gentlemen of the other side, as 
skilful parliamentarians and skilful strategists ; you have 
chosen wisely and adroitly your line of assault ; you have 
put forward perhaps the least objectionable of your meas- 
ures, but we meet that as one part of your programme. 
We reply to it as an order of battle, and we are as much 
compelled by the logic of the situation to meet you on the 
tskirmish line as we would be if you were attacking the 
intrenchments themselves. And, therefore, on the thresh- 
old, we desire to plant our case on the general grounds ou 
which we choose to defend it. 



232 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

THE FEEBLEST GOVERNMENT ON EARTH. 
" Mr. Garfield then went on to refer to what he had 
stated on the last day of the last Congress, as to the 
division of the government into three parts — the nation, 
the Senate, and the people ; and he said that, looking 
at the government as a foreigner might look upon it, 
it might be said to be the feeblest government on the 
earth, while looking at it as American citizens did, it 
was the mightiest government. A foreigner could point 
out a dozen ways in which the government could be 
killed, and that not by violence. Of course all govern- 
ments might be overturned by the sword. But there 
was some ways by which this government might be ut- 
terly annihilated without the firing of a gun. The 
people might say that they would not elect representa- 
tives. That, of course, wjis a violent supposition, but 
there was no possible remedy for sucli a condition of 
things, and without a House of Representatives there 
could be no support of a government, and, consequently, 
there could be no government ; so the States might say 
through their legislatures, that they would not elect 
senators. The very abstention from electing senators 
would absolutely destroy the government, and there 
would be no process of compulsion. Or, supposing that 
the two Houses were assembled in their usual order, and 
that a bare mnjority of one in either House should firmly 
bind itself together and say that it would vote to adjourn 
at the moment of meeting each day, and would do that 
for two years in succession — in that case what would 
happen and what would be the measure of redress ? 



LEADS THE REPUBLICAN OPPOSITION. 2B3 

The government would die. There could not be found 
in tlie whole range of judicial or executive authority 
any remedy whatever. The power of a member of the 
House to vote was free, and he might vote ' no ' on every 
proposition of that kind. It was not so with the ex- 
ecutive. The executive had no power to destroy the 
government. Let the executive travel but one inch 
beyond the line of law and there was the power of im- 
peachment. But if the electors among the people who 
elected representatives, or if the electors in the State 
legislatures who created senators, or if senators and 
representatives themselves abstain from the perform- 
ance of their duty, there was no remedy. 

WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANT. 

"At a first view it might seem remarkable that a 
body of wise men like those who framed the Constitution 
should have left the whole side of the Hibric of govern- 
ment open to those deadly assaults, but on another view 
of the case they were wise. What was their reliance ? 
It was on the sovereignty of the nation, on the crowned 
and anointed sovereign to whom all American citizens 
owed their allegiance. That sovereign was the body of 
the people of the United States, inspired by their love of 
country and their sense of obligation to public duty. As 
the originators of the forces that were sent to Congress to 
do their work they had no need of any coercive authority 
to be laid on them to compel them to do their manifest 
duty. Public opinion, the level of that mighty oce;iu 
from which all heights and all depths were measured, 
was deemed a suthcient measure to guard that side of the 



234 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

constitution and those approaches to the life of the na- 
tion, absolutely from all danger, all harm. Up to this 
hour our sovereign has never failed us. There has never 
been such abstention from the exercise of those primary 
functions of sovereignty, as either to cripple or endanger 
the government. And now, for the first time in our 
history, and I will say for the first time in at least 
two centuries in the history of English-speaking people^ 
has it been proposed, or at least insisted upon, that these 
voluntary powers shall be used for the destruction of 
the government. I want it understood that the propo- 
sition which I have read, and which is the programme 
announced to the American people to-day, is, this day, 
that if we cannot have our way in a certain manner, we 
will destroy the government of this country by using the 
voluntary power not of the people, but of ourselves, 
against the government to destroy it. What is our 
theory of law ? It is free consent. That is the graur 
ite foundation of our whole structure. Nothing in this 
Republic can be a law that has not a free consent of 
the House, the free consent of the Senate, and the free 
consent of the executive. Or if the executive refuses 
his free consent, then it must have the free consent of 
two-thirds of each body. Will anybody deny that? 
Will anybody challenge a line of that statement — that 
free consent is the foundation rock of all our institutions ? 

THREATS TO STOP THE GOVERNMENT. 

**And yet the programme announced two weeks ago 
was, that if the Senate refused to consent to the demand 
of the House the government should stop. The proposi- 



LEADS THE REPUBLICAN OPPOSITION. 235 

tion was then, and the programme is now, that although 
there is not a Senate to veto it, there is still a third 
independent factor in the legislative power of the govern- 
ment which is to be coerced at the peril of the destruc- 
tion of the government. It makes no difference what 
your issue is. If it were the simplest and most inoffen- 
sive proposition in the world, yet if you demand as a 
matter of coercion that it shall be put in, every fair- 
minded Ilepubliotin in America would be bound to resist 
it as much as though his own life depended on his re- 
sistance. I am not arguing as to the merits of your 
three amendments at all : I am speaking of our methods, 
and I say that they are against the constitution of our 
country. I say that they are revolutionary to the core, 
and that they tend to the destruction of the first ele- 
ment of American liberty, which is free consent of all 
the powers that unite to make the law. I ask anybody 
to take up my challenge and to show me where hitherto 
this consent has been coerced as a condition precedent 
to the support of the government. It is a little surpris- 
ing to me that our friends on the other side should have 
gone into this great contest on so slender a topic as the 
one embraced in this particular bill. Victor Hugo said, 
in his description of the great Battle of Waterloo, that 
two armies were like two mighty giants, and that some- 
times a chip under the heel of one might determine the 
victory. It may be, gentlemen, that there is merely a 
chip under your heel, or it may be that you treated it 
as a chip on our shoulder. But whether it is under 
your heel or on our shoulder it represents a matter of 
revolution, and we fight for the chip as if it wjjt' an 



236 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

ingot of tho richest ore. [Loud applause on the floor 
and in the galleries.] 

A POINT FOR DEMOCRATIC MEMBERS. 

" Let us see what the chip is. Do the gentlemen know 
what they ask when thej ask us to repeal ? Who made 
this law which you now demand to have repealed in this 
bill ? It was introduced into the Senate of the United 
States by a prominent Democrat from the State of Ken- 
tucky (Mr. Powell). It was insisted upon in an able 
and elaborate speech by him. It was reported against by 
a Republican committee in that body. It went through 
days and weeks of debate in the Senate, and when it 
finally came to be acted upon in that body this is about 
the way the vote ran : Every Democrat in the Senate 
voted for it, and every senator who voted against it was 
a Republican. No Democrat voted against it, but every 
Democratic senator voted for it. Who were they ? Mr. 
Hendricks, of Indiana ; Mr. Davis, of Kentucky ; Mr. 
Johnson, of Maryland ; Mr. McDougal, of California ; 
Mr. Powell, of Kentucky; Mr. Richardson, of Illinois, 
and Mr. Saulsbury, of Delaware. There were fewer 
Republican senators who voted for it than there were who 
voted against it. Thirteen Republican senators voted 
against it and only ten for it. The bill then came over 
to the House and was put upon its passage here. And 
how did the vote stand in this body? Every Democrat 
in the House of Representatives voted for it — sixty of 
them. The total number of persons who voted for it in 
the House was about one hundred and thirteen, and of 
that number a majority were Democrats. The distin- 



LEADS THE REPUBLICAN OPPOSITION. 237 

guished Speaker of the House, Samuel J. Randall, voted 
for it. The distinguished chairman of the Committee of 
Ways and Means (Fernando Wood) voted for it. A dis- 
tinguished member from Ohio, now a senator from that 
State (Mr. Pendleton) voted for it. Every man of 
leading name or fame in the Democratic party who was 
then in the Congress of the United States voted for the 
bill, and not one against it. In this House there were 
but few Republicans who voted against it. I was one of 
the few. Thaddeus Stephens voted against it. What 
was the object of the bill at that time ? It was this — it 
was alleged by Democrats that in those days of war there 
was interference with elections in the border States. 
There was no charge of any interference in the States 
where w^ar did not exist. But lest there might be some 
infraction of the freedom of elections a large number of 
Republicans in Congress were unwilling to give any ap- 
pearance whatever of interfering with the freedom of 
elections, voted against this law as an expression of their 
purpose that the army should not be improperly used in 
and about any election. 

" Mr. Carlisle (Dem.) of Kentucky. — I want to ask 
if the Democrats in the Senate and the House did not 
vote for that proposition because it came in the form of a 
substitute for another proposition still more objectiona- 
ble to them ? 

" Mr. Garfield. — The gentleman is quite mistaken. The 
original bill was introduced by Senator Pov/ell, of Ken- 
tucky. It was amended by several persons in its course 
through the Senate, but the vote I have given is the 
final vote. A Republican senator moved to reconsider it, 



238 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

hoping to kill the proposition, and for four or five days it. 
was delayed. It was again passed, every Democrat vot- 
ing for it. In the House there was no debate, and there- 
fore no expression of the reason why anybody voted for it 

STEPHENS IN A MERRY MOOD. 

" Mr. Stephens, of Georgia. — I wish to ask the gentle- 
man if the country is likely to be revolutionized and the 
Government destroyed by repealing a law that the gentle- 
man voted against? (Laughter on the Democratic side.) 

"Mr. Garfield. — I think not, sir. That is not the 
element of revolution that I have been discussing. The 
proposition now is that fourteen years have passed since 
the war, and not one petition from any American citizen 
has come to us asking that the law be repealed ; not one 
memorial has found its way to our desks, complaining of 
the law ; and now the Democratic House of Representa- 
tives hold that if they are not permitted to force on 
another House and the executive against their will and 
their consent, the repeal of a law that the Democrats made 
it shall be a sufficient ground for starving this Govern- 
ment. That is the proposition we are here debating. 

" Mr. Wood (Dem.), of New York. — Before the gentle- 
man leaves that part of the discussion, I desire to ask him 
whether he wishes to make the impression on this House 
that the bill introduced by Senator Powell, of Kentucky, 
which resulted finally in the law of 1865, was the bill 
that passed the Senate and the House which he stated 
that the present Speaker of the House and myself voted 
in favor of? 



LEADS THE REPUBLICAN OPPOSITION. 239 

" Mr. Garfield. — I have not intimated that there were 
no amendments. There were amendments. 

" Mr. Wood. — I want to correct the impression. 1 
deny that, so far as I am personally concerned, I ever 
voted for the bill, except as a substitute for a more per- 
nicious and objectionable measure. [Applause on the 
Democratic side.] 

" Mr. Garfield. — All I say is a matter of record. What 
I say is that the gentleman voted for that law, and every 
Democrat in the Senate and in the House who voted at 
all voted for it. 

" Mr. Wood. — I want to ask the gentleman whether, 
in 1865, at the time of the passing of this law, the war had 
really yet subsided — whether there was not a portion of 
this country in a condition where it was impossible to 
exercise an elective franchise unless there was some kind 
of military interference ; and whether, at the expiration 
of fourteen years after the war has subsided, that gentle- 
man is yet prepared to continue a war measure in a time 
of profound peace in the country ? 

GOING BACK TO 1860. 

'* Mr. Garfield. — I have no doubt that the patriotic 
gentleman from New York took all those things into consid- 
eration when he voted for that bill, and I may have been 
unratriotic in voting against it ; but he and I must stand 
on our record as made up. Let it be understood that 1 
have not at all entered into the discussion of the merits 
af the case. I am discussing a method of revolution 
against the Constitution of the United States. I desirr 



240 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

to ask the forbearance of the gentlemen on the othei side 
for remarks that I dislike to make, for they will bear 
witness that I have in many ways shown my desire that 
the wounds of the war shall be healed and that the grasa 
that God plants over the graves of our dead may signalize 
the return of the spring of friendship and peace between 
all parts of this country. But I am compelled by the 
necessity of the situation to refer for a moment to a chap- 
ter of history. The last act of the Democratic administra- 
tion in this House, eighteen years ago, was stirring and 
dramatic, but it was heroic and high-souled. Then the 
Democratic party said, ' If you elect your man as Presi- 
dent of the United States, we will shoot your Union to 
death ;' and the people of thjis country, not willing to be 
coerced, but believing that they had a right to vote for 
Abraham Lincoln if they chose, did elect him lawfully as 
President. And then your leaders in control of the major- 
ity of the other wing of this Capitol did the heroic thing 
of withdrawing from their seats, and your representatives 
withdrew from their seats and flung down to us the gage 
of mortal battle We called it rebellion, but we admitted 
that it was honorable, that it was courageous, and that it 
was noble to give us the fell gage of battle and fight it 
out in the open field. That conflict and what followed 
we all know too well ; and to-day, after eighteen years, 
the book of your domination is opened where you turned 
down your leaves in 1860, and you are signalizing your 
return to power by reading the second chapter (not this 
time an heroic one), that declares that if we do not let you 
dash a statute out of the book, you will, not shoot the 
Union to death, as in the first chapter, but starve it tc 



LEADS THE REPUBLICAN OPPOSITION. 241 

death by refusing the necessary appropriations. (Ap- 
plause on the Republican side.) You, gentlemen, have it 
in your power to kill this movement ; you have it in your 
power, by withholding these two bills, to smite the nerve 
centres of our constitution to the stillness of death ; and 
you have declared your purpose to do it if you cannot 
break down the elements of free consent that up to this 
time have always ruled in the Government. 

SUPERCILIOUS CARPING. 

" Mr. Davis (Deni.), of North Carolina. — Do I under^ 
stand the gentleman to state that refusal to admit the 
army at the polls will be the death of this government ? 
That is the logic of his remark if it means anything. 
We say it will be the preservation of the government to 
keep the army from destroying liberty at the polls. 

" Mr. Garfield. — I have too much respect for the intel- 
ligence of the gentleman from North Carolina to believe 
that he thinks that that was my argument. He does not 
say that he thinks so. On the contrary, I am sure that 
every clear-minded man knows that that was not my 
argument. My argument was this — that unless some 
independent branch of the legislative power against iis 
will is forced to sign or vote what it does not consent to, 
it will use the power in its hands to starve the govern- 
ment to death. 

" Mr. Davis. — How does the gentleman assume that 
we are forcing some branch of the government to do 
what it does not wish to do ? How do we know that, 
or how does the gentleman know it ? 



to' 
16 



242 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

" Mr. G«irfield. — My reply to the gentleman is, that 
I read at the outset of my remarks the declaration of 
his party asserting that this is its programme. In 
1856, in Cincinnati, in the National Democratic Con- 
vention, and still later, in 1860, the national Democ- 
racy in the United States, affirmed the right of the 
veto as one of the sacred rights of our Government, and 
declared that any law which could not be passed over a 
veto had no right to become a law, and that the only 
redress was an appeal from the veto to the people at the 
next election. That has been the Democratic doctrine on 
that subject from the remotest day — certainly from Gen- 
eral Jackson's time until now. What would you have 
said in 1861 if the Democratic majority in the Senate, in- 
stead of taking the course which it did, had simply said : 
* We will put an amendment on an appropriation bill de- 
claring the right of any State to secede from the Union 
at pleasure, and forbidding any officer of the army or 
navy of the United States from interfering with any 
State in its purpose to secede ? ' Suppose the Demo- 
cratic majority had said then, * Put that on these appro- 
priation bills, or we will refuse supplies to the govern- 
ment.' Perhaps they could have killed the government 
then by starvation. But in the madness of that hour the 
secession government did not dream that it would be 
honorable to put their fight on that ground, but they 
walked out on their plan of battle and fought it out. 
But now, in a way which the wildest of secessionists 
never dreamed of taking, it is proposed to make this new 
asyault on the vitals of the nation. 



LEADS THE REPUBLICAN OPrOSITION. 243 

A EEPUBLICAN CHALLENGE. 

"Gentlemen (.addressing the Democratic side of the 
House), we have tried to count the cost. We did try to 
count it in 1861 before we picked up the gage of battle; 
and although no man could then forecast the awful loss 
in blood and treasure, yet having started in we staid 
there to victory. We simply made the appeal to our 
sovereign, to that great omnipotent public opinion in 
America, to determine whether the Union should be shot 
to death. And now lawfully in our right hand, in our 
place here, we pick up the gage of battle which you have 
thrown down, and will appeal to our common sovereign 
to say whether you shall break down the principle of 
free consent in legislation at the price of starving the 
government to death. We are ready to pass these bills 
for the support of tlie government at any hour when you 
will offer them in the ordinary way, and if you offer 
these other measures as separate measures, we will 
meet you in the spirit of fair and fraternal debate. But 
you shall not compel us — you shall not coerce us — even 
to save this government, until the question has gone to 
the sovereign to determine whether it will consent to 
break down any of its voluntary powers. And on that 
ground, gentlemen, we plant ourselves. (Loud applause 
on the Republican side and in the galleries.) We remind 
you, in conclusion, that this great zeal of yours in regard 
to keeping the officers of the government out of the 
States has not been always yours. I remember that 
only six years before the war your law authorized mar 
shals of the United States to go through all our house- 



244 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

holds and hunt for fugitive slaves. It did not only that, 
but it empowered marshals to call for a posse-comitatua 
and to call upon all the bystanders to join in the chase, 
and your Democratic attorney-general declared in an 
opinion, in 1854, that a marshal of the United States 
might call to his aid the whole posse, including soldiers 
and sailors and marines of the United States, to join in 
the chase and to hunt down the fugitive. Now, fellow 
members of the House, if, for the purpose of makiug sla- 
very eternal, you could send your marshals and could 
summon posses and use the armed forces of the United 
States, by what face or grace can you tell us that, in 
order to procure freedom in elections and peace at the 
polls, you cannot use the same marshjil with his armed 
posse ? But I refrain from discussing the merits of the 
proposition. I have tried in this hurried and unsatis- 
factory way to give my ground of opposition to this legis 
lation." 

As Mr. Garfield resumed his seat, he was again 
loudly applauded on the Ptepublicaii side and in the gal- 
leries. 

On the 4th of April, in reply to Mr. Tucker, of Vir- 
ginia, who in behalf of his party had threatened the stop- 
page of the supplies of the army unless the rider tacked 
on to the appropriation bill, forbidding the use of the 
troops at the polls, should be adopted, General Garfield 
spoke with rare force and effect. 

" Mr. Garfield, of Ohio, said : During the last four 
days fifteen or twenty demolitions of his argument of last 
Saturday had been made in the presence of the House 
and of the country. All of them save one had alleged 



LEADS THE REPUBLICAN OrrOSITlON. 245 

that he held it to he revolutionary to place this legisls^ 
tion on an appropriation bill. If they had any particular 
pleasure in setting up a man of straw to knock him down 
again, they had enjoyed that pleasure. He had never 
claimed that it was either revolutionary or unconstitu- 
tional to put a rider on an appropriation bill. No man on 
the Republican side had claimed that. The most that 
had been said was that it was considered a bad parliamen- 
tary practice. All parties in the country had repeatedly 
said that. The gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Black- 
burn) had thought that he was especially severe in show- 
ing that he (Mr. Garfield) had insisted on the passage 
of a conference report in 1872, in an appropriation bill 
that had a rider to it, and had said that it was revolution- 
ary in the Democratic party to resist it. What he (Mr. 
Garfield) had said on that occasion, and what he said now, 
was that it was revolutionary in the gentleman's party to 
refuse to let the appropriation bill be voted on. For four 
days gentlemen on that side had said that the House 
should not vote on the appropriation bill because there 
was a rider on it. He had tried to prevent that rider 
being put on, but when the minority insisted that the 
House should never act upon it, he had said that that was 
an unparliamentary obstruction. The Republicans did not 
filibuster to prevent a vote on the pending measure. The 
majority had a right (however indecent it might be as a 
matter of parliamentary practice) to put a rider on the 
appropriation bill and pass it. When the bill was sent 
to the Senate that body had a perfect right to pass it. 
And when it went ifo the President, it was the President's 
constitutional right to approve and sign it. K the Presi- 



246 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

dent signed it, then it would be a liw ; but it was equally 
the President's constitutional right to disapprove it 
Should he do so, then, unless the other side had a two- 
third majority in the House and Senate to pass the bill 
notwithstanding the President's objections, it could not be 
passed without the flattest violation of the constitution. 

THE VETO QUESTION". 

" Nobody on the Republican side had brought up the 
question of a veto. It had been brought up by the proc- 
lamation of Democratic caucuses and by the conference 
committees of the last House that had written it down as 
their programme, that they would bind together these 
elements of legislation and send them to the President, 
and that if he did not approve them the Democratic party 
would not vote supplies for the government. You (said 
he, addressing the opposite side) threatened him in ad- 
vance, before you let him have an opportunity to say yes 
or no. You walked into this Capitol with your threats 
against him in your high-sounding proclamations. You 
* threatened in the index : ' it remains to be seen whether 
in the body of your work and in its concluding sentences 
your thunder will be as loud as it was in the opening 
chapter. (Applause on the Republican side.) Let no 
gentleman say that I, or any man on this floor, have 
threatened a veto. It would be indecent to do it. It 
would be indecent for any of us even to speak of what 
the executive intends, for none of us has the right to 
know that. But you in advance proclaim to him that if 
he dared to exercise his constitutional power you would 
refuse to vote the supplies of the government — in other 



LEADS THE REPUBLICAN OPPOSITION. 247 

words, that you would starve it to death. And that is 
the proposition of my distinguishe.d friend from Virginia 
(Mr. Tucker), who has come nearer meeting this case 
than any man on this floor — has made a point which is a 
part of the grandeur of his intellect, which I respect. 
He says that under our constitution we can vote supplies 
for the army for but two years, and that in a certain way 
the army ceases to be if the supplies are not voted. He 
is mistaken in one thing — the army is an organization in- 
dependent of appropriation bills so far as the creation of 
oflicers and ranks is concerned. The mere supply of it, 
of course, comes through the appropriation bills. If you 
refuse supplies to the army it must perish of inanition. 
The gentleman from Virginia says, * Unless you let us ap- 
pend a condition, which is to us a redress of grievances, 
we will let the army be annihilated on the 30th of June 
next by lack of food and shelter.' That is fair in argu- 
ment ; that is brave. But what is the * grievance ' of 
which the gentleman complains ? A law : a law of tlie 
land. A law made by the representatives of the people, 
made through all the proper forms of consent known to 
our constitution. And it is his grievance that he could 
not get rid of it in the ordinary and constitutional way of 
repealing a law. If he can get rid of it by all the powers 
of consent that go to make or unmake a law, then he can 
do so, whether it is a * grievance ' or not, whether it is 
good or bad. 

" If the gentleman from Virginia wants to take before 
the American people this proposition of letting our army 
be annihilated on the 30th of June next, unless the Pres- 
ident, against his conscience and sense of duty, sliall sign 



248 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

what he sends him, we will debate the question in the 
forum of every man's mind. If what the gentleman from 
Kentucky (Mr. Blackburn) calls 'the return of the Dem- 
ocratic party to its birthright ' (changed to ' heritage ' in 
the Record^ is to be signalized in its first great act by 
striking down the grand army of the United States, the 
people of this country will not be slow to understand that 
there are reminiscences about that army which these 
gentlemen would willingly get rid of. [Loud applause 
on the Republican side and in the galleries]. 

" In the course of further remarks Mr. Garfield ex- 
pressed his willingness to help the Democrats to wipe 
from the statute book the law authorizing the use of the 
army at the polls. A bill for that purpose should be in- 
troduced in the retiular manner." 

In describing the effect of this speech the correspond- 
ent of the New York Herald said : 

'' The exposure by General Garfield to-day of the de- 
mure manner in which the rider of the army bill was 
arranged by the Democrats will deservedly put the man- 
jLgers of the extremists to disgrace. The amendment so 
hastily offered from the Democratic side after he sat 
down, showed their surprise and a certain demoralization. 
This amendment has yet to be discussed in the House, as 
well as Mr. Baker's, offered in the interest of economy, 
and, he might have added, of a useful and necessary re- 
form, and the whole bill will be elaborately discussed and 
amended in the Senate. It will go to the President in a 
shape quite different from that in which it was brought 
into the House, and there are signs here that the moderate 
men of the Democratic side are at last — and a little too 



LEADS THE REPUBLICAN OrPOSXTION. 249 

late, as usual — making up their minds to assert, them- 
selves. They begin to try to steer their ship after th^ 
extremists have carried it into the breakers." 

Commenting upon the speech, the Herald said, edit<^ 
rially : 

" The discussion of the army bill yesterday was more 
powerful and noteworthy than it has been on any preced- 
ing day. Its great feature was the second speech of Mr. 
Garfield, who rose to the full height of the occasion and 
stripped the question of the infinite rubbish which has 
gatliered around it in the progress of the debate. It was 
really a statesmanlike effort, alike remarkable for cnndor, 
for clearness of statement, for force of logic and especially 
for the sureness of aim with which he hit the Democratic 
position between wind and water and set his opponents at 
work in trying to stop the leaks in their ship. He frankly 
repudiated all the Republican nonsense about the enor- 
mity of attaching extraneous legislation to an appropria- 
tion bill. He declared his willingness to repeal the 
offensive sections of the Revised Statutes in separate 
bills. He stated some strong reasons why it is inexpe- 
dient to strike out merely the one clause which the Dem- 
ocrats seek to repeal without annulling the whole section. 
The effect of his speech seems to have been remarkable 
in disconcerting the Democrats. It is probable now that 
if an attempt is made to carry out the threat of stopping 
the supplies, the party will split, and our correspondent 
therefore says, very aptly and forcibly, that Mr. Garfield 
* has broken the Democratic line.' " 

On the I6th of April, during the debate on the South- 
ern Claims Bill, General Garfield made the following gen 



250 JAMES A, GARFIELD. 

erous appeal in behalf of the men of the South who were 
loyal to the Umon during the rebellion. He said : 

" The general doctrine of belligerents is, of course, ac- 
cepted by everybody to cover as enemies technically all 
the inhabitants of the belligerent territory. That general 
doctrine is recognized by all lawyers everywhere. But 
nobody has ever denied, except the gentleman from Wis- 
consin, that during our late war, and since the Supreme 
Court has repeatedly determined that in cases before it 
the question of loyalty cannot be raised where the party 
has been granted a pardon. It was stated in the last 
Congress that ninety-nine per cent, of all the people of 
the seceded States were what we would call disloyal, and 
that every man in those States that amounted to anything 
belonged to that category. I desire to traverse that prop- 
osition by some facts. Do gentlemen know that, leaving 
out all the border States, there were fifty regiments and 
seven companies of white men in our army fighting for 
the Union from the States that went into rebellion ? Do 
they know that from the single State of Kentucky more 
Union soldiers fought under our flag than Napoleon took 
into the battle of Waterloo — more than Wellington took 
with all the allied armies against Napoleon ? Do they 
remember that 180,000 colored men fought under our 
flag against the rebellion and for the Union, and that of 
that number 90,000 were from the States which went 
into rebellion? To say that they were enemies, that 
they had no rights, and that when we came out of the 
war we should not pay them and their families for all 
the proper losses that they suffered in aid of our Govern- 
ment, is what I had hoped no man on either side of the 



LEADS THE REPUBLICAN OrPOSITION. 251 

House would say. I am glad to know that the gentlemen 
who fought against us do not say it-^not one of them. It 
remained for one of our own soldiers to say that nothing 
ought to be paid to any man, however loyal, if he came 
from the South. In my judgment, that is in the highest 
degree inequitable and unjust. Let the Southern Claims 
Commission go on until it has acted in cases before it, 
and then let it be mustered out. Let us not enlarge 
that business, but let us complete it. Most of all. let us 
not turn it over to a court where the distinction between 
loyalty and disloyalty is not retained." 

On the lOth'^of June, 1879, Mr. McMahon (Dem.), 
of Ohio, submitted to conference report upon the judi- 
cial expenses bill. The report recommends that the 
House recede from its disagreement to amendment 1 
and agree to the same, with an amendment striking out 
the words inserted by the Senate and inserting in lieu 
thereof the following: "Under any of the provisions of 
title 26 of the Revised Statutes of the United States 
authorizing the appointment or payment of general or 
>pecial deputy marshals for services in connection with 
slections or on election day." 

" Mr. McMahon proceeded to explain the report. If 
adopted it would prohibit any officer of the Government 
from making any contract or incurring any liability 
under any of the provisions of title 26 of the Revised 
Statutes. It would be seen that supervisors were not 
mentioned in the section. There was no doubt that all 
supervisors, ordinary and chief, were paid out of a perma- 
nent annual appropriation fund. The limitation was con- 
fined to marshals, and if Democrats surrendered that limi- 



252 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

tation, they would be base and worthless representatives 
of the people, and would no longer deserve the confidence 
of their constituents. Whatever might be thought of 
supervisors of elections the course of the Republican party 
in regard to special deputy marshals had been one of the 
grossest outrages on decent and fair elections that had 
ever been committed. 

THE REPUBLICAN ATTITUDE. 

" Mr. Garfield, of Ohio, opposed the report, and laid 
down the position occupied by the Republican side on this 
question. The bill went beyond making appropriations 
and proposed to prevent the executive authority of the 
Government from enforcing the law. The issue was nar- 
rowed down to this point — the majority avowed its de- 
termination that marshals, deputy marshals, and assistant 
marshals shall not be appointed to execute the laws as 
embodied in title 26 of the ReAnsed Statutes, and con- 
fessed that the clause in the conference report was in- 
tended and devised for that purpose. That made a square 
issue, which everybody could understand. The other 
side did not like the law, but it should have proposed to 
amend it so as to correct the abuses complained of. The 
Republican side of the House was willing to offer or to 
accept an amendment placing the appointment of deputy 
marshals and assistant marshals (where that of the super- 
visors is) in the courts. That would be in the direction 
of legislation to cure the evil complained of. The other 
side, for want of a two-thirds majority, could not con- 
stitutionally repeal the law and therefore, not being able 
to repeal it, it wished to prevent the execution of the 



LEADS THE REPUBLICAN OPPOSITION. 253 

law. It was necessary that the courts should be open to 
all suitors, that justice should be done in every district, 
that prisoners should have a speedy trial. And so the 
other side segregated from all the other appropriations of 
the year that for the judicial expenses of the Government, 
and it held out the bill for judicial expenses in one hand 
and said, not to the minority alone but to all the offi- 
cers of the nation, ^ Take this money ; but you can only 
have it on condition that we shall be permitted to couple 
with it a provision that certain laws, which we cannot 
repeal, shall not be enforced; that for the coming year 
they shall be nullified. 

POSITION OF THE PRESIDENT. 

" See the attitude in which this bill puts the Presi- 
dent of the United States. It puts him absolutely be- 
tween two fires — the fire of your law on the one side, and 
the fire of heaven and his oath on the other. 

" Mr. McMahon, of Ohio. — How is the President at 
all interfered with. 

" Mr. Garfield. — The President has taken an oath 
that he shall see to it that the laws be faithfully executed. 
You do not repeal this law, but you make it impossible 
for him to execute it without his running in danger, on 
the one hand, of your impeaching him, or, on the other 
hand, without neglecting his duty and violating his oath. 
Now, I take it that no President of the United States can 
allow himself to be put in that attitude. The wisdom of 
the old writer of Proverbs, ' Surely in vain the net is 
spread in the sight of any bird,' is quite likely to apply 
in this case. I do not see that there is the slightest 



54 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



probability that you can catch the President in this net, 
or that he will allow himself to be put in a position where 
he will be compelled to decide between obeying his oath 
and the constitution on the one hand, and obeying this 
entangling law on the other hand. 

During the summer and fall of 1879, General Garfield 
delivered a number of speeches in the West. At the 
twenty-fifth reunion of the Western Republicans, held at 
Madison, in July, 1879, he spoke as follows : 

" This vast assembly must have richly enjoyed the 
review of the party's history presented here and cele- 
brated here to-day, and not only a review of the past, 
but the hopeful promises made for the future of that 
great party. The Republican party, organized a quar- 
ter of a century ago, was made a necessity to carry out 
the pledges of the fathers that this should be a land of 
liberty. 

" There was in the early days of the Republic, a Re- 
publican party that dedicated this very territory, and all 
our vast territory, to freedom ; that promised much for 
schools ; that abolished imprisonment for debt, and that 
instituted many wise reforms. But there were many 
conservatives in those days, whose measures degenerated 
into treason ; and the Republican party of to-day was but 
the revival of the Republican party of seventy years ago, 
under new and broader conditions of usefulness. 

"It is well to remember and honor the greatest 
names of the Republican party. One of these is Joshua 
H. Giddings, who for twenty years was freedom's cham- 
pion in Congress, and, from a feeble minority of two, 
lived to see a Republican Speaker elected, and himself to 



LEADS THE REPUBLICAN OPPOSITION. 255 

conduct him to the chair. Another is Abraham Lincoln, 
the man raised up by God for a great mission. No man 
ever had a truer appreciation of the principles of the Dec- 
laration of Independence, that great charter which it was 
the mission of the Republican party to enforce. 

" There was a fitness in the first platform^ of the Wis- 
consin Republicans that they based themselves upon the 
Declaration of Independence. While the Republicans, 
from the first, have been true to their principles, perfect- 
ing all they promised, as proved to-day by the whole 
record, the Democrats, on the other hand, steadily wrong, 
have been forced from one bad position to another. 

" Can any Democrat point with pride to his party 
platforms of 1854, or find in them any living issue ? The 
issues they then presented led us into war and involved 
us in a great national debt. Looking for the cause of 
that debt, I say that the Democratic party caused it. 

" We are, as a nation, emerging from difficulties, and 
the Republican party alone can probably claim that the 
brightest page of our country's history has been written 
by the true friends of freedom and progress. The Re- 
publican party has yet work to do. We are confronted 
to-day in Congress by nearly the same spirit that pre- 
vailed in the years just before the war. 

" They tell us that the National Government is but 
the servant of the States ; that we shall not interpose, as 
a nation, to guard an honest election in a State ; that if 
we will interpose they will deny appropriations. Is this 
less dangerous than their position in 1861 ? Have we 
no interest except in local elections, no power to guard 
the ballot box and protect ourselves against outrages 



256 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

upon it ? Why does the South make this issue ? I an- 
swer : They have a solid South, and only used to carry 
Ohio and New York to elect the President, and they 
trust to carry these States by the means they best know 
how to use. 

"There are sentimentalists and optimists who may 
see no danger in this. There had been sentimentalists 
and optimists in the Republican party, but to-day all 
were stalwarts. President Hayes, when he came into 
office, was an optimist, but he saw all his hopes, concil- 
iation frustrated, and all his advances met with scorn. 
We all now stand together on the issue as one." 

At the Andersonville Reunion, at Toledo, Ohio, on 
the 3d of October, 1879, General Garfield said : 

" My Comrades, Ladies and Gentlemen : I have ad- 
dressed a great many audiences, but I never before stood 
in the presence of one that I felt so wholly unworthy to 
speak to. A man who came through the war without 
being shot or made prisoner is almost out of place in 
such an assemblage as this. 

" While I have listened to you this evening, I have 
remembered the words of the distinguished Englishman 
who once said, ' that he was willing to die for his coun- 
try.' Now, to say that a man is willing to die for his 
country is a good deal, but these men who sit before 
us have said a great deal more than that. I would 
like to know where the man is that would calmly step 
out on the platform and say, ' I am ready to starve to 
death for my country.' That is an enormous thing to 
say, but there is a harder thing than that. Find a man, 
if you can, who will walk out before this audience and 



LEADS THE REPUBLICAN OPPOSITION. 257 

say, * I am willing to become an idiot for my coimtrv.* 
How many men could you find who would volunteer to 
become idiots for their country ? 

" Now, let me make this statement to you, fellow- 
citizens : One hundred and eighty-eight thousand sucli 
men as this were captured by the rebels who were fight- 
ing our Government. One hundred and eighty-eigh! 
thousand ! How many is that. They tell me there are 
4,500 men and women in this buildim;: to-ni2;ht ! Mul- 
tiply this mighty audience by forty and you will have 
about 188,000. Forty times this great audience were 
prisoners of war to the enemies of our country. And to 
every man of that enormous company there stood open 
night and day the offer : ' If you will join the rebel 
army, and lift up your hand against your flag, you are 
free.' 

" A voice. — * That's so.' 

" General Garfield. — 'And you shall have food, and 
you shall have clothing, and you shall see wife, and 
mother, and child.' 

" A voice. — ' We didn't do it, though.' 

" General. — ^And do you know that out of thai 
188,000 there were less than 3,000 who accepteil the 
offer? And of those 3,000, perhaps nine-tenths of thsm 
did it with the mental reservation that they wotild 
desert at the first hour — the first moment there was an 
opportunity. 

" Voices.—' That's so.' 

*' General Garfield.— But 185,000 out of the 188,000 
said: 'No! not to see wife again; not to see child 
igain; not to avoid starvation; not to avoid idiocy' ; not 

17 



258 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

to avoid the most loathsome of deaths, will I lift this 
hand against ray country forever.' Now, we praise the 
ladies for their patriotism ; we praise our good citizens 
at home for their patriotism ; we praise the gallant sol- 
diers who fought .'ind fell. But what were all these 
things compared with that yonder ? I bow in rever- 
ence. I would stand with unsandaled feet in the pres 
ence of such heroism and such suffering; and I would 
say to you, fellow-citizens, such an assemblage as this 
has never yet before met on this great earth. 

" Who have reunions ? I will not trench upon for- 
bidden ground, but let me say this : Nothing on the 
earth and under the sky can call men together for re- 
unions except ideas that have immortal truth and im- 
mortal life in them. Tiie animals fight. ' Lions and 
tigers tight as ferociously as did you. Wild beasts tear 
to the death, but they never have reunions. Why ? 
Because wild beasts do not fight for ideas. They merely 
fight for blood. 

" All these men, and all their comrades went out 
inspired by two immortal ideas. 

" First, that liberty shall be universal in America. 

" And, second, that this old flag is the flag of a 
Nation, and not of a State ; that the Nation is supreme 
over all people and all corporations. 

" Call it a State ; call it a .section ; call it a South 
call it a North ; call it anything you wish, and yet 
armed with the nationality that God gave us, this is a 
Nation against all Stete sovereignty and secession what- 
ever. It is the immortality of that truth that makes 
these reunions, and that makes this one. You belie vr ' 



LEADS THE REPUBLICAN OPPOSITION. 259 

it on the battle-field, you believed it in the hell of An- 
dersonville, and you believe it to-day, thank God ; and 
you will believe it to the last gasp. 

" Voices — ' Yes, we will,' ' That's so,' etc. 

" General Garfield. — Well, now, fellow-citizens and 
fellow-soldiers — but I am not worthy to be your fellow in 
this work, — I thank you for having asked me to speak to 
you. [Cries of * Go on !' * Go on ! ' ^ Talk to us more, 

etc.] 

" I want to say simply that I have had one oppor- 
tunity only to do you any service. I did hear a man 
who stood by my side m the halls of the legislation — the 
man that offered on the floor of Congress the resolution 
that any man who commanded colored troops should be 
treated as a pirate and not as a soldier ; as a slave-stealei 
and not as a soldier — I heard that man calmly say, with 
his head up in the light, in the presence of this American 
people, that the Union soldiers were as well treated, and 
as kindly treated in all the Southern prisons as were the 
rebel soldiers in all the Northern prisons. 

" Voices. — * Liar !' * Liar I' ' He was a liar !' 
"General Garfield. — I heard him declare that no 
kinder men ever lived than General Winder and his Com- 
mander-in-Chief, Jeif. Davis. [Yells of derision, hisses, 
etc.] And I took it upon myself to overwhelm him with 
the proof [a roll of applause begins], with the proof of 
the tortures you suffered, the wrongs done to you, were 
suffered and done with the knowledge of the Confederate 
authorities from Jefferson Davis down — [great applause, 
waving of hats, veterans standing in their chairs and 
cheering]— that H was a part of their polioy to make you 



260 JAMES A. GAKFIELD. 

idiots and skeletons, and to exchange your broken and 
siiattered bodies and dethroned minds for stronsr, robust, 
well-fed rebel prisoners. That policy, I affirm, has never 
had its parallel for atrocity in the civilized world." 

" Voice.—' That's so.' 

" General Garfield. — It was never heard of in any 
land since the dark ages closed upon the earth. While 
history lives men have memories. We can forgive and 
forget all other things before we can forgive and forget 
this. 

" Finally, and in conclusion, T am willing, for one — 
and I think I speak for thousands of others — I am will- 
ing to see all the bitterness of the late war buried in the 
grave of our dead. I would be willing that we should 
imitate the condescending, loving-kindness of him who 
planted the green grass on the battle-fields and let the 
fresh flowers bloom on all the graves alike. I would 
clasp hands with those who fought against us, make them 
my brethren, and forgive all the past, only on one su- 
preme condition : that it be admitted in practice, acknowl- 
edged in theory, that the cause for which we fought, and 
you suftered, was and is, and for evermore will be right, 
eternally right." [Unbounded enthusiasm.] 

" Voices.—' That's it,' ' That's so,' etc. 

" General Garfield. — That the cause for which they 
fought was, and forever will be, the cause of treason and 
wrong. [Prolonged applause.] Until tkat is acknowl- 
edged my hand shall never grasp any rebel's hand across 
any chasm, however small." [Great applause and cheers ] 
General Garfield took an active part in the campaign 
in Ohio in the fall of 1879, which returned a Republican 



LEADS THE KEPUBLICAN OPPOSITION. 261 

legislature, and ensured the election of a United Statos 
senator of the same political faith. 

The new Legislature of Ohio assembled in January, 
1880, and at once proceeded to the election of a United 
States senator to succeed Allen G. Thurman, whose term 
would expire on the 3d of March, 1881. General Gar- 
field was placed in nomination by his friends. Ex-Sen- 
ator Stanley Matthews, ex-Attorney-General Alphonso 
Taft, and ex-Governor William Denison had also entered 
into a canvass for the place, but by the time the caucus 
met the general sentiment of the State was so earnest 
and enthusiastic in favor of Garfield that his three com- 
petitors withdrew without waiting for a ballot, and he 
was nominated unanimously by a rising vote. On the 
15th of January he was elected United States Senator by 
a majority of 22 in the Assembly, and 7 in the Senate. 

On the same day General Garfield arrived in Colum- 
bus from Washington, and in the evening a reception was 
given to him in the hall of the House of Representatives, 
in the State capitol. He was introduced by Governor 
Foster, and after some hand-shaking, spoke as follows : 

" Fellow-citizens : I should be a great deal more than 
a man, or a great deal less than a man, if I were not ex- 
tremely gratified by the many marks of kindness you have 
shown me in recent days. I did not expect any such 
meeting as this. I knew there was a greeting awaiting 
me, but did not expect so cordial, generous, and general 
a greeting, without distinction of party, without distinc- 
tion of interests, as I have received to-night. And you 
will allow me, in a moment or two, to speak of the mem- 
ories this chamber awakens. 



262 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

" Twenty years ago this last week I first entered thih 
chamber and entered upon the duties of public life, in 
which I have been every hour since that time in some 
capacity or other. I left this chamber eighteen years ago, 
and I believe I have never entered it since that time 
But the place is familiar, though it was not peopled with 
the faces that I see before me here to-night alone, but with 
the faces of hundreds of people that I knew here twenty 
years ago, a large number of whom are gone from earth. 

" It was here in this chamber that the word was first 
brought of the firing on Fort Sumter. I remember dis- 
tinctly a gentleman from Lancaster, the late Senator 
Schleigh — General Schleigh, who died not very long ago 
— I remember distinctly as he came down this aisle, with 
all the look of agony and anxiety in his face, informing us 
that the guns had opened upon Sumter. I remember that 
one week after that time, on motion of a leading Demo- 
cratic senator, who occupied a seat not far from that po- 
sition (pointing to the Democratic side of the chamber), 
that we surrendered this chamber to several companies of 
soldiers who had come to Columbus to tender their ser- 
vices to the imperilled Government. They slept on its 
carpets and on these sofas, and quartered for two or three 
nights in this chamber while waiting for other quarters 
outside the capitol. 

" All the early scenes of the war are associated with 
this place in my mind. Here were the musterings — here 
was the centre, the nerve centre, of anxiety and agon}-. 
Here over 80,000 Ohio citizens tendered their services in 
the course of three weeks to the imperilled nation. Here, 
where we had been fighting our political battles with sharp 



LEADS THE REPUBIJCAN OPPOSITION. 263 

ind severe partisanship, there disappeared, almost as if by 
magic, all party lines ; and from both sides of the cham- 
ber men went out to take their places on the field of bat- 
tle. I can see now, as 1 look out over the various seats 
where sat men who afterward became distin<2:uished in the 
service in high rank, and nobly served their constituen- 
cies and honored themselves. 

" We now come to this place, while so many are 
gone ; but we meet here to-night with the war so far back 
in the distance that it is an almost half-forgotten memory. 
We meet here to-night witli a nation redeemed. We 
meet here to-night under the flag we fought for. We 
meet with a glorious, a great and growing Republic, made 
greater and more glorious by the sacrifices through which 
the country has passed. And coming here as I do to 
night, brings the two ends of twenty years together, with 
all the visions of the terrible and glorious, the touching 
and cheerful, that have occurred during that time. 

"I came here to-night, fellow-citizens, to thank this 
General Assembly for their great act of confidence and 
compliment to me. I do not undervalue the office that 
you have tendered to me yesterday and to-day ; but I 
say, 1 think, without any mental reservation, that the 
manner in which it was tendered to me is far higher to 
me, far more desirable, than the thing itself. That it 
has been a voluntary gift of the General Assembly of 
Ohio, without solicitation, tendered to me because of 
their confidence, is as touching and as high a tribute as 
one man can receive from his fellow-citizens, and in the 
name of all my friends, for myself, I give you m\ 
thanks. 



2G4 JAMliS A. GARFIELD. 

^' I recognize the importance of the place to which 
you have elected me ; and I should be base if I did not 
niso recognize the great man whom you have elected me 
to succeed. I say for him, Ohio has had few larger- 
miiuletl, broader-minded men in the records of our his- 
tory than that of Alien G. Thurman. Differing widely 
from hiiu as I have done in politics, and do, I recog- 
nize him as a man high in character and great in intel- 
lect ; and I take this occasion to refer to what I have 
never before referred to in public : that many years 
ago, in the storm of party fighting, when the air was 
filled witli all sorts of missies aimed at the character 
and reputation of public men, when it was even for his 
party interest to join the general clamor against me and 
my associates, Senator Thurman said in public, in the 
campaign, on the stump — when men are as likely to 
say unkind things as at any place in the world — a most 
generous and earnest word of defence and kindness for 
me, which I shall never forget so long as I live. I say, 
moreover, that the flowers that bloom over the garden- 
wall of party politics are the sweetest and most fragrant 
that bloom in the gardens of this world ; and where we 
can fairly pluck them and enjoy their fragrance, it is 
manly and delightful to do so. 

" And now, gentlemen of the General Assembly, 
without distinction of party, I recognize this tribute and 
compliment paid to me to-night. Whatever my own 
course may be in the future, a large share of the in 
spiration of my future public life will be drawn from 
this occasion and these surroundimrs, and I shall feel 
4new the sense of obligation that 1 feel to the State of 



LEADS THE REl'UBLICAN OPPOSITION. 265 

Ohio. Let me venture to point a single sentence in 
regard to that work. During the twenty years that i 
have been in public life, almost eighteen of it in the 
Congress of the United States, I have tried to do one 
thing. Whether I was mistaken or otherwise, it has 
been the plan of my life to follow my conviction at 
whatever personal cost to myself. 

"I have represented for many years a district in 
Congress, whose approbation I greatly desired ; but 
though it may seem, perhaps, a little egotistical to 
say it, I yet desired still more the approbation of one 
person, and his name was Garfield. He is the only 
man that I am compelled to sleep with, and eat with, 
and live with, and die with ; and if I could not have 
his approbation I should have bad companionship. And 
in this larger constituency which has called me to rep- 
resent them now, I can only do what is true to my best 
self, applying the same rule. 

" And if I should be so unfortunate as to lose the 
confidence of this larger constituency, I must do what 
every other fair-minded man has to do — carry his polit- 
ical life in his hand and would take the consequences. 
But I must follow what seems to me to be the only safe 
rule of my life ; and with that view of the case, and with 
that much personal reference, I leave that subject. 

" Thanking you again, fellow-citizens, members of 
the General Assembly, Republicans as well as Demo 
crats — all pirty men as I am — thanking you both foi 
what you have done and for this cordial and manly 
greeting, I bid you good-night." 

On the day of General Garfield's election to the Sen- 



266 JAMES A. GARFLELD. 

ate, President Hinsdale, of Iliram College, made the fol 
lowing announcement to the students of that institu- 
tion : 

" To-day a man will be elected to the United States 
Senate in Columbus, who, when a boy, was once the bell- 
ringer in this school and afterward its president. Feeling 
this, we ought, in some wa}', to recognize this step in his 
history. I will to-morrow morning call your attention to 
some of the more notable and worthy features of General 
Garfield's history and character." 

The address which President Hinsdale delivered on 
the occasion is as follows : 

" Young Ladies and Gentlemen : I am not going to 
attempt a formal address on the life and character of 
General Garfield. There is now no call for such an at- 
tempt, and I have made no adequate preparations for 
such a task. My object is far humbler : simply to hold 
up to your minds some points in his history, and some 
features in his character that young men and women may 
study with interest and profit. 

" I shall begin by destroying history, or what is 
commonly lield to be history. The popularly accepted 
account of General Garfield's history and character is 
largely fabulous. We are not to suppose that the ages 
of myth and legend are gone ; under proper conditions 
such growths spring up now, and I know of no man in 
public life around whom they have sprung up more 
rankly than around the subject of my remarks. 

" No doubt you have seen some of the stories con- 
cerning him and his family that appear ever and anon in 
the newspapers; that his mother chopped cordwood : ihn\ 



LEADS THE llEPDBLICAN OPPOSITION. 267 

she fought wolves with fire to keep them from devour- 
ing her children, her distinguished son being one of the 
group ; that the circumstances of the family were most 
pinching ; that Garfield himself could not read at the age 
of twent^'-one ; that he was peculiarly reckless in hi^ 
early life; that, when he had become a man, he went 
down from the pulpit to thrash a bully who interruptec 
him in his sermon on the patience of Job. 

" These stories, and others like them, are all false and 
all harmful. They fail of accomplishing the very purpose 
for which they were professedly told — the stimulation of 
youth. To make the lives of the great distorted and 
monstrous is not to make them fruitful as lessons. 

" If a life be anomalous and outlandish, it is, for that 
reason, the poorer example. It is aU in the wrong direc- 
tion. It makes the impression that, in human history, 
there is no cause and no effect ; no antecedent and no 
consequent ; that everything is capricious and fitful ; and 
suggests that the best thing to do is to abandon one's self 
to the currents of life, trusting that some beneficent gulf- 
stream will seize you and bear you to some happy shore. 
No, young people, do not heed such instruction as this. 

" The best lives for them to study are those that are 
natural and symmetrical ; those in which the relation be- 
tween cause and effect is so close and apparent that the 
dullest can see it ; and that preach in the plainest terms 
the sermon on the text: *^ Whatever a man soweth that 
shall he also reap.' 

" Irregular and abnormal lives will do for ' studies, 
but healthy, normal, harmonious lives should be chosen 
for example. And General Garfield's life from the first 



268 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

has been eminently healthy, normal, and well-propor 
tioned. 

" He was born in the woods of Orange, Cuyal, Dga 
County, in 1831. His father died when the son was a 
year and a half old. Abram Garfield's circumstances 
were those of his neighbors. Measured by our standard 
they were all poor ; they lived on small fiirms, for which 
they had gone in debt, hoping to clear and pay for them 
by their toil. Garfield dying, left his wife and four 
young children in the condition that any one of his neigh- 
bors would have done in like circumstances — poor. The 
family life before had been close and hard enough ; now 
it became closer and harder. 

" Grandma Garfield, as some of us familiarly call her, 
was a woman of unusual energy, faith, and courage. She 
said the children should not be separated, but kept them 
together; and that the home should be maintained, as 
when its head was living. The battle was a hard one, 
and she won it. All honor to her, but let us not make 
her ridiculous by inventing impossible stories. 

*' To external appearance, young Garfield's life did 
not differ materially from the lives of the neighbors' boys. 

" He chopped wood, and so did they ; he mowed, and 
BO did they ; he carried butter to the store in a little pail, 
and so did they. Other families that had not lost their 
heads naturally shot ahead of the Garfields in property ; 
but such differences counted far less then than they do 
now. The traits of his maturer character appeared early ; 
studiousness, truthfulness, generosity of nature, and men- 
tal power. So far was he from being reckless, that he 
was almost serious, reverent, and thoughtful. So far wfis 



LEADS THE REPUBLICAN OPrOSITION. '269 

he from being unable to read at twenty-one, that be waf 
a teacher in the district schools before he was eighteen. 

" He was the farthest removed from being a pugilist, 
(hough he had great physical strength and courage, coob 
ness of mind, was left-handed withal, and was both able 
and disposed to defend himself and all his rights, and 
did so on due occasion. 

" His three months' service on the canal has been the 
source of numerous fibles and morals. The morals are 
as false as the fables, and more misleading. All I have 
to say about it is : James A. Garfield has not risen to 
the position of a United States Senator because he ' ran 
on a canal.' Nor is it because he chopped more wood 
than the neighbors' boys. Many a man has run longer 
on the canal, and chopped more wood, and never became 
a senator. 

" General Gnrfield once rang the school bell when a 
student here. That did not make him the man he is. 
Convince me that it did, and I will hang up a bell in 
every tree in the campus, and set you all to ringing. 
Thomas Corwin, when a boy, drove a wagon, and became 
the head of the Treasury; Thomas Ewing boiled salt, and 
became a senator ; Henry Clay rode a horse to mill from 
the ' Slashes,' and he became the great commoner of the 
West. But it was not the wagon, the salt, and horse 
that made these men great. 

"These are interesting facts in the lives of these 
illustrious men ; they show, that in our country it has 
been, and still is possible for young men of ability, en- 
ergy, and determined purpose to rise above a lowly con- 
dition, and win jilaces of usefulness and honor. Povertv 



270 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

may be a good school ; straitened circumstances may 
develop power and character; but the principal con 
ditions of success are in the man, and not in his sut 
roundinsrs. 

" Garfield is the man he is because nature gave him 
a noble endowment of faculties that he has nobly handled 
We must h)ok within, and not without, for the secret of 
destiny. The thing to look at in a man's life are his 
aspirations, his energy, his courage, his strength of will, 
and not the wood he may have chopped, or the salt he 
may have boiled. How a man works, and not what he 
does, is the test of worth. 

" His success did not lie in his technical scholarship, 
or his ability as a drill-master. Teachers are plenty who 
much surpass him in these particulars. He had great 
ability to grasp a subject, to organize a body of intel- 
lectual materials, to amass facts and work out striking 
generalizations, and therefore lie excelled in rhetorical 
exposition. An old pupil who has often heard him on the 
stump, once told me, ' The General succeeds best when 
talking to the people just as he did to his class,' He 
imparted to his pupils largeness of view, enthusiasm, and 
called out of them unbounded devotion to himself. 

" This devotion was not owing to any plan or trick, 
but to the qualities of the man. Mr. H. M. Jones, of the 
Cleveland schools, an old Hiram scholar, speaking of the 
3ld Hiram days before Garfield went to college, once 
wrote me : ' There began to grow up in me an admira- 
tion and love for Garfield that has never abated, and the 
like of which I have never known. A bow of recognition, 
or a simple word from him, was to me an inspiration.' 



LEADS THE REPUBLICAN OPPOSITION. 271 

" Probably all were not equally susceptible, but all 
Ihe boys who were long under his charge (save perhaps, a 
few ' sticks'), would speak in the same strain. He had 
great power to energize young men. General Grarfield 
has carried the same qualities into public life. He has 
commanded success. His ability, knowledge, mastery of 
questions, generosity of nature, devotion to the puDlic 
good, and honesty of purpose, have done the work. He 
has never had a political ' machine.' He has never for- 
gotten the day of small things. He has never made per- 
sonal enemies. 

"It is difficult to see how a political triumph could 
be more complete or more gratifying than his election 
to the Senate. No ' bar-gains,' no ' slate,' no ' grocery' 
at Colun?bus. He did not even go to the capital city. 
Such things are inspiring to those who think politics in a 
broad way. He is a man of positive convictions, freely 
uttered. Politically he may be called a ' man-of-war ; ' 
and yet few men, or none, begrudge him his triumph. 
Democrats vied with Republicans the other day in Wash- 
ington in snowing him under with congratulations ; some 
of them were as anxious for his election as any Repub- 
lican could be. 

" It is said that he will go to the Senate without an 
enemy on either side of the chamber. These things are 
honorable to all parties. They show that manhood is 
more than party. The Senator is honored, Ohio is hon- 
ored, and so is the school in Hiram, with which he was 
connected so many years. The whole story abounds in 
interest, and I hope I have so told it as to bring out some 
af its best points, and to give you stimulus and cheer." 



272 JAMES A. GxVRFIELD. 

General Garfield took an active part in the regular 
session of the forty-sixth Congress, which met in Decem- 
ber, 1879, and on the 17tli of March, 1880, delivered one 
of his most powerful speeches. The Civil Appropriation 
13ill was under discussion, and the Democratic majority 
was endeavoring to force the Government into removing 
the United States marshals from the polls at elections, 
by refusing the appropriation for the pay of those officers. 
General Garfield said : 

" The discussion of this bill has concentrated upon 
two topics — the public printing and the election laws. 
On the subject of the public printing I shall take no time, 
except to say this : After one of the saddest histories in 
the experience of this Government with the old contract 
system, which broke down by the weight of its own cor- 
ruption, it was developed and proved beyond any contro- 
versy that in the four years preceding the administration 
of Abraham Lincoln, out of the private profits on the 
public printing and binding, the sum of $100,000 was 
contributed by the public printer for political purposes, 
mainly to carry the Democratic elections in Pennsyl- 
vania; and that vast contribution did not exhaust the 
profits of the public printer out of the Government. This 
exposure destroyed the wretched contract system, and 
thereafter the Government itself assumed the responsi- 
bility of the work. At first the Senate or the House of 
Representatives elected a Printer, as they had a manifest 
right to do under the clause of the Constitution which 
gives each House the power to elect its own officers. 
But when, by and by, the office grew into a great national 
establishment, in which all the printing and binding foi 



LEADS THE REPUBLICAN OPPOSITION. *273 

all departments of the GoA^ernment was done, it became 
manifest that the Senate was exercising a power of ap- 
pointment unwarranted by the Constitution ; and in the 
year 1874, on motion of Mr. Hale, of New York, a reso- 
lution was adopted by a two-thirds vote suspending the 
rules of the House and making in order on a sundry civil 
service appropriation bill an amendment to chancre the 
law and make the Printer an officer of the United States, 
to be appointed by the President and confirmed by the 
Senate. I had charge of that bill and voted for the 
amendment, as did nearly all my associates, and it was 
adopted by the almost unanimous vote of this House, 
both parties uniting in declaring that the old law was un- 
constitutional, and that experience had proved it unwise ; 
Republicans taking their share of responsibility for their 
own blunders and mistakes ; all agreeing that the law 
ought to conform to the Constitution. 

" When the Democratic party came into power in 
1876, they amended that law by making it take effect 
immediately. We made it take effect when a vacancy 
should occur in the office of Public Printer. In 1876 the 
law was so changed as to make it take effect immediately. 
And that passed by the general consent of both parties. 
The proposition now is, to go back, and in the face of our 
past experience, make a change in this law which will 
not affect in any way the question of economy, which will 
not change one iota of the machinery of the management 
of the public printing, and does not pretend to be in the 
direction of economy ; but merely abolishes a constitu- 
tional office and creates an unconstitutional one, takes the 

appointing power out of the hands of the President and 

lb 



274 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

unlawfully places it in the hands of this Ilciuse, merely 
to get some Democrat into office. This is to be done for 
no public good, to satisfy the demands of party hunger 
I have no doubt that this amendment will be, as it cer- 
tainly ought to be, ruled out of order, and I will waste no 
urther words in discussing it. 



CONTEMNING THE SUPREME COURT DECISION. 

"I will now call attention, during the short time left 
-me, to what I consider a matter of far greater moment. 
My colleague [Mr. McMahon], in his speech opening 
the discussion upon this bill, made the announcement in 
substance, and it remains uncontradicted and not pro- 
tested against by anyone on this side of the House, first, 
that *we have not hitherto made, do not in this bill, and 
will not in any future bill, make any appropriation what- 
ever for supervisors or special deputy marshals, so fir 
as they have to do with congressional elections.' lie 
asserts that it was not proper for any oflicer of the 
Government to appoint special deputy marshals when 
no appropriation had been made for that specific pur- 
l)0se. 

" Then, further on, he declares — I quote from his 
printed. §peech : 

'' 'And I desire to say that because the Supreme Court 
of the United States has decided that the election law i> 
c>mstitutional by a sort of eight-by-seven decision — and 
I mean by that a division apparently according to ])arty 
hues (without impugning the good faith of any meuibci 
of ihe Supreme Court, but to show how dilTerently a legui 



LEADS THE REPUBLICAN OPPOSITION. 275 

question may appear to persons who have been educatetl 
in different political schools) — that although that court 
has decided the constitutionality of the law, that when 
we come, as legislators, to appropriate money, it is our 
duty to say, is this law constitutional? or, if constitu- 
tional, is it a good law, and are we bound to appropriate 
money for it ? ' 

" He undertakes, as will be seen, to throw contempt 
on that decision by styling it *a sort of eight-by-seve:i 
decision.' I remind him that it is a seven-to-two de- 
cision, having been adopted by a larger number of ilie 
members of the court than the majority of the decisions 
of that tribunal. It is a decision of a broad, sweeping 
character, and declares that Congress may take the wliole 
control of congressional elections, or a partial control, ns 
they choose; that the election law as it stands on Hie 
national statute-book is the supreme law of the land on 
that subject. 

" More than that : the Supreme Court, not only in 
this case but in another recent case, has made a declara- 
tion which ouglit to be engraven upon the minds and 
hearts of all the people of this country. And this is its 
substance : 

" ' That a law of Congress interpenetrates and be- 
comes a part of every Inw of every State of this Union 
to which its subject matter is applicable, and is bindin- 
upon all people on every foot of our soil. This is the 
voice of the Constitution.' 

" Now, therefore, under this decision the election I;iv;.s 
of the United States are the laws of every State of tli:^ 
Union. No judge of election, no State oflicer or other 



276 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

persons connected with any congressional election, no 
elector who offers his ballot at any such election, can with 
impunity lift his hand or do any act against any of the 
provisions of these laws. They rest down upon congres- 
sional elections upon cA^ery State like the * casing air,' 
broad and general, protecting with their dignity every 
act, and penetrating with their authority every function 
of congressional elections. They are the supreme law 
of the land on that subject. 

" But now a Representative, spealdng for the Demo- 
cratic party in this House, rises, not with the plea which 
he could have made with some show of plausibility last 
year, that the law is unconstitutional, and that therefore 
they would not enforce it — but with a constitutional law, 
declared so by the Supreme Court, covering him and fill- 
ing the Republic from end to end, reaching everywhere 
and covering every foot of our soil where a congressional 
election can be held — he rises in his place and declares 
that the Democratic party will not execute that law nor 
permit it to be obeyed. 

" We who are the sworn law-makers of the nation, 
and ought to be examples of respect for and obedience to 
the law — we who before we took our first step in legis- 
lation swore before God and our country that we would 
support the supreme law of the land — we are now in- 
vited to become conspicuous leaders in the violation 
of the law. My colleague announces his purpose to 
break the law, and invites Congress to follow him in his 
assault upon it. 

" Mr. Chairman, by far the most formidable danger 
tibat threatens the Republic to-day is the spirit of law- 



LEADS THE REPUBLICAN OPPOSITION. 277 

breaking which shows itself in many turbulent and 
alarming manifestations. The people of the Pacific 
Coast, after two years of wrestling with the spirit of com- 
munism in the city of San Francisco, have finally grap- 
pled with this lawless spirit, and the leader of it was 
yesterday sentenced to penal servitude as a violator of 
the law. But what can we say to Dennis Kearney and 
his associates if to-day we announce ourselves the fore- 
most law-breakers of the country and set an example 
to all the turbulent and vicious elements of disorder to 
follow us ? 

THE ELECTION LAWS MANDATORY. 

"My colleague [Mr. McMahon] tries to shield his 
violation of the law behind a section of the statutes 
which provides that no disbursing or other officer shall 
make any contract involving the expenditure of money 
beyond what is appropriated for the purpose. I answer 
that I hold in my hand a later law, a later statute, which 
governs the restrictive law of which he speaks, which 
governs him and governs the courts. It is the election 
law itself. I invite attention briefly to its substance. 
Sections 2011 and 2012 of the Revised Statutes provide 
that upon the sipplication of any two citizens of any city 
of more than twenty thousand inhabitants to have the 
election guarded and scrutinized, the judge of the circuit 
court of the United States shall hold his court open 
during the ten days preceding the election. The law 
commands the judge of the court to so do. 

" In the open court from day to day, and from time 
to time, the judge shall appoint, and, under the seal of 



278 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

the court, shall commission two citizens of different politi 
cal parties who are voters within the precinct where thev 
reside, to be supervisors of the election. That law i; 
mandatory upon the judge. Should he refuse to obey he 
cm be impeached of high crimes and misdemeanors in 
office. He must not stop to inquire whether an appro- 
priation has been made to pay these supervisors. The 
rights of citizens are involved ; upon their application 
the judge must act. Cut what then ? 

" Again, section 2021 provides that on the applica- 
tion of two citizens the marshal of the United States 
shall appoint special deputy marshals to protect the su- 
pervisors in the execution of their duty. And the law is 
mandatory upon the marshal. He must obey it under 
the pains and penalties of the law. What then? When 
the supervisors and special deputy marshals have been 
appointed they find their duties plainly prescribed in the 
law. And then section 5521 provides that if they neg- 
lect or refuse to perform fully all these duties enjoined 
upon them, they are liable to fine and imprisonment. 
They cannot excuse their neglect by saying, ' We will 
not act because Congress has not approjjriated the money 
to pay us.' 

"All these officers are confronted by the imperial com- 
mand of the law — first to the judge and marshal to ap- 
point, then to the supervisor and deputy marshal to act, 
and to act under the pains and penalties of fine and im- 
prisonment. Impeachment enforces the obedience of the 
judge ; fine and imprisonment the obedience of the super- 
visors and deputy marshals. 

" Now comes one other mandatory order : in the last 



LEADS TUE UEPUBLICAN OrPUSITION. 27'J 

section of this long chapter of legislation the majestio 
conHnand of the law is addressed both to Congress an 1 
the Treasury. It declares that there 'shall be paid' out 
of the treasury five dollars per day to these officers a> 
compensation for their services. Here, too, the law i,; 
f(raally imperious and mandatory ; it addresses itself to 
the conscience of every me.iiber of this House, with only 
this difference : we cannot be impeached for disobedi- 
ence ; we cannot be fined or locked up in the penitentiary 
for voting ' no,' and refusing the ajtpropriation ; we cid- 
not be fined or imprisoned if we refuse to do our duty. 
And so, shielded by the immunity of his privilege as a 
representative, my colleague sets the example to all offi- 
cers and all people of deliberattdy and with clear-sighted 
purpose violating the law of the land. 

" Thus he seeks to nullify the law. Thus he hopes 
to thwart the nation's 'collected will.' Does my col- 
league reflect that in doing this he runs the risk of viti- 
Hting every national election ? Suppose his lead be fol- 
lowed, and the demand of citizens for supervisors and 
marshals is made and refused because an appropriation 
has not been voted. Does he not see the possibility of 
vitiating every election held where fraud and violence 
are not suppressed and the law has not been complied 
with ? Yet he would risk the validity of all the con- 
gressional electioris of the United States; rather than 
uhaudon his party's purpose he would make Congress 
the chief of the law breakers of the land. 

" Mr. Chairman, when I took my seat as a member of 
this House, I took it with all the responsibilities which 
the place brought upon me ; and among others was my 



280 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

duty to keep the obligations of the law. Where the la\v 
speaks in mandatory terms to everybody else and then 
to me, I should deem it cowardly and dishonorable if I 
should skulk behind my legislative privilege for the pur- 
pose of disobeying and breaking the supreme law of the 
land. [Applause.] 



THE PRESENT ISSUE. 

"The issue now made is somewhat different from 
that of the last session, but, in my judgment, it is not 
less significant and dangerous. I would gladly waive 
any party advantage which this controversy might give 
for the sake of that calm and settled peace which would 
reign in this hall if we all obeyed the law. But if the 
leaders on the other side are still determined to rush 
upon their fate by forcing upon th^e country this last 
issue — that because the Democratic party happen not 
to like a law they will not obey it — because they hap- 
pen not to approve of the spirit and character of a law 
they will not let it be executed — I say to gentlemen on 
the other side, if you are determined to make such an 
issue, it is high time that the American people should 
know it. 

" Here is the volume of our laws. ^lore snored than 
the twelve tables of Rome, this rock of the law rises in 
monumental grandeur alike above the people nnd the 
President, above the courts, above Congress, command- 
ing everywhere reverence and obedience to its supreme 
authority. Yet the dominant party in this House virtu- 
ally declares that ' any part of this volume that we do 



LEADS THE REPUBLICAN OPPOSITION. 281 

not like and cannot repeal we will disobey. We have 
.ried to repeal these election laws ; we have failed bc- 
'^ause we had not the constitutional power to destro}' 
ihem. The Constitution says they shnll stand in their 
authority and power ; but we, the Deuiocratic party in 
defiance of the Constitution, declare that if we can- 
not destroy them outright by the repeal, they shall be 
left to crumble into ruin by wanton and lawless neg- 
lect.' 

'• Mr. Chairman. — I ask gentlemen on the other side 
whetlier they wish to maintain this attitude in regard to 
the legislation of this country ? Are they willing to start 
on a hunt through the statutes and determine for them- 
selves what they will obey and what they will disobey ? 
That is the meaning of my colleague's speech. If it 
means anything it means that, lie is not an old Bran- 
denburg elector, but an elector in this novel and mod- 
urn sense, that he will elect what laws he will obey and 
what he will disobey, and in so far as his power can go, 
he will infect with his spirit of disobedience all the good 
people of this country who trust him. 

THE DANGER OF EXAMPLE OF DISOBEDIENCE. 

" I ask, gentlemen, whether this is a time when it is 
safe to disregard and weaken the authority of law. In 
all quarters tiie civil society of this country is becoming 
honey-combed through and through by disintegrating 
ibrt-es — in some States by the violation of contracts and 
the repudiation of debts ; in o hers by open resistance and 
defiance ; in still others by the reckless overturning of con- 



282 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

stitutions and letting ' the red fool-fury of the Seine' run 
riot among our people and build its blazing altars to the 
strange gods of ruin and misrule. All these things are 
shaking tiie good order of society and threatening the 
foundations of our government and our peace. In a tiniu 
like this, more than ever before, this country needs a body 
of law-givers clothed and in tiieir right minds, who have 
laid their hands upon the altar of the law as its defenders, 
not its destroyers. And yet now, in the name of party, 
for some supposed party advantage, my colleague from 
Ohio announces, and no one on his side has said him nay, 
that they not only have not in the past obeyed, but in the 
future they will not obey this law of the land which the 
Supreme Court has just crowned with the authority of 
its sanction. If my colleague chooses to meet that issue, 
if he chooses to go to the country with that plea, I shall 
regret it deeply for my country's sake ; but if I looked 
only to my party's interest, it would give me joy to en- 
gage in such a struggle. 

" The contest of last autumn made the people under- 
stand the tendencies of gentlemen on the other side. 
Now, this cool, calm, deliberate assassination of the law 
will not be tolerated. We have had a winter to freeze 
out our passion, we have had a summer to thaw out our 
indifference, we have had the changing cii-cles of the yeai 
to bring us around to order and cahnness, and yet all the 
fiery courses of the stars seem to h.-.ve shed their inllu- 
ence on my colleague to fire him with a more desperate 
madness and drive his party on to a still sadder fate. 
[Applause on the Republican side.] 

" I trust and believe that we may yet find some re- 



LEADS TUE REPUBMCAN Ol'TOSITION. 283 

sponse from the other side of the House that will pre- 
vent this course of procetlure. If we do, I will gladly 
give away any party advantage for the sake of strength- 
ening the foundations of law and good order. And I 
therefore appeal to gentlemen on the other side to pre- 
vent a disaster which their party leaders are preparing, 
not for themselves alone, but for our common country. I 
hope before this day is over we may see such a vote in 
this chamber upon this bill as will put an end to tliis 
miserable business, and cast out of these h.ills the dregs 
of that unfortunate and crazy extra session." [Applause 
on the Republican side.] 



CHAPTER VIIL 

GENERAL GARFIELD's FINANCIAL RECORD. 

General Garfield's Appointment to the Committee on Banking and Currency 
— His Efforts in Congress in behalf of Honest Money — A Formal State- 
ment of his Views on the Money Question — The Currency Doctrine of 
1862 — Definition of Money — Mortey as an Instrument of Exchange — 
Coin as an Instrument of Universal Credit — Statutes cannot Repeal the 
Laws of Value — Paper Money as an Instrument of Credit — Necessity of 
Resumption — A Powerful Argument — General Garfield's Speech on the 
V\'eaver Resolutions. 

L^ 1868, General Garfield was appointed Chairman of 
the Committee on Banking and Currency, and during the 
same Congress did most of the hard work on the Ninth 
Census. His financial views, always sound, and based 
on the firm foundation of hone&t money nnd unsullied 
national honor, had now become strengthened by his 
studies and investigations, and he was recognized as the 
best authority in the House on the great subjects of the 
debt and the currency. His record in the legislation 
concerning these subje<;ts is without a flaw. No man in 
Congress made a more consistent and unwavering fight 
against the paper money delusions that flourished dur- 
ing the decade following the war, and in favor of specie 
payments and the strict fulfilment of the nation's obliga- 
Hons to its creditors. His speeches became the financial 
gospel of the Republican party. No man gave more ar- 



FINANCIAL RECORD. 285 

dent and useful support to the policy of resuming specie 
payments, and no man in Congress contributed more in 
bringing it about. 

One of the most carefully prepared expressions of his 
views on the financial question was contributed by him to 
The Atlantic Monthly, in February, 1876. It is a paper 
of the highest importance, and we give it in full. He 
styles it " The Currency Conflict," and says : 

" In the autumn of 1862, I spent several weeks 
with Secretary Chase, and was permitted to share his 
studies of the financial questions which were then en- 
grossing his attention. He was preparing to submit to 
Congress his matured plans for a system of banking and 
currency to meet the necessities of the war, and this sub- 
ject formed the chief theme of his conversation. He was 
specially anxious to work out in his own mind the prob- 
able relations of greenbacks to gold, to the five-twenty 
bonds, to the proposed national bank notes, and to the 
business of the country. 

" One evening the conA^ersation turned on some ques- 
tion relating to the laws of motion, and Mr. Chase asked 
for a definition of motion. Some one answered 'Matter 
is inert, spirit alone can move ; therefore motion is the 
Spirit of God mjtde manifest in matter.' The Secretary 
said, ' If that is a good definition, then legal tender notes 
must be the devil made manifest in paper; for no man can 
foresee what minchief they may do when they are once 
let loose.' He gravely doubted whether that war -born 
spirit, summoned to serve us in a dreadful emergency, 
would be mustered out of service with honor when the 
conflict should <md, or. at the return of peace, would cap- 



286 JAMES A. GARFIELD : 

tiire public opinion nnd enslave the nation it had served. 
To what extent his fears were well founded may be ascer- 
tained by comparing the present state of the public mind 
in regard to the principles of monetary science with that 
which prevailed when our existing financial machinery 
was set up. • 

" More than a million votes will be cast at the next 
Presidential election by men who were school-boys in 
their primers when the great financial measures of 1862 
were adopted ; and they do not realize how fast or how 
far the public mind has drifted. The log-book of this 
extraordinary voyage cannot be read too often. Let it 
be constantly borne in mind that fourteen years ago the 
American people considered themselves well instructed 
in the leading doctrines of monetary science. They had 
enjoyed, or rather suflered, an extraordinary experience. 
There was hardly an experiment in banking and currency 
that they or their fathers had not fully tested. 

THE CURKENCY DOCTRIXES OF 1862. 

" The statesmen of that period, the leaders of public 
thought, and the people of all political parties wore sub- 
stantially unanimous In the opinion that the only safe in- 
slrument of exchange known among men was standard 
coin, or paper convertible into coin at the will of tlic 
holder. 

" I will not affirm that this opinion was absolutely 
unanimous ; for doubtless there was here and tliere a 
dreamer who looked upon paper money as a sort of feticli. 
Mild was ready to crown it as a god. There are always a 



ins FINANCIAL RECORD. 287 

fow who believe in the qiindrature of the circle and the 
]Mii-petaal motion. I recently met a cultivated AmerioMn 
wlio is a firm believer in Buddha, and rejoices in the 
hope of attaining Nirvana beyond the grave. Tlie gods 
()!" Greece were discrowned and di^^owned by the civilized 
V. orld a thousand years ago; yet within the last gener:i- 
tion an eminent English scholar attested his love for clas- 
sical learning and his devotion to the Greek mythology 
l)y actually sacrificing a bull to Jupiter, in the back par- 
lor of his house, in London. So, in 1862, there may have 
been followers of William Lowndes and of John Law 
among our people, and here and there a philosopher who 
dreamed of an ideal standard of value stripped of all the 
grossness of so coarse and vulgar a substance as gold. 
But they dwelt apart in silence, and their opinions made 
scarce a ripple on the current of public thought. 

" No one can read the histor}' of that year without 
observing the great reluctance, the apprehension, the pos- 
itive dread with which the statesmen and people of tha^ 
day ventured upon the experiment of making treasury 
notes a legal tender for private debts. They did it under 
the pressure of an overmastering necessity, to meet the 
immediate demands of the war, and with a most deter-, 
mined purpose to return to the old standard at the ear- 
liest possible moment. Lideed, the very act that made 
file greenbacks a legal tender provided the eftectivtj 
means for retiring them. 

" Distressing as was tlie crisis, urgent as was the 
need, a large number of the best and most patriotic men 
in Congress voted against the act. The ground of their 
opposition was well expressed by Owen Lovejoy, of I Hi- 



288 • JAMES A. GARFIELD : 

iiois, who, after acknowledging^ the unparalleled difficul- 
ties and dangers of the situation, said, ' There is no 
precipice, there is no chasm, there is no possible bottom- 
less, yawning gulf before the nation so appalling, so 
ruinous, as this snme bill that is before us.' 

" Of those who supported the measure, not one de- 
fended it as a permanent policy. All declared that they 
did not abate a jot of their faith in the soundness of the 
old doctrines. 

" Thaddeus Stevens said, ' This bill is a measure of 
necessity, not of (choice. No one would willingly issue 
■paper currency not redeemable on demand, and make it a 
legal tender. It is never desirable to depart from the 
circulating medium which, by the common consent of 
civilized nations, forms the standard of value.' 

" In the Senate the legal-tender clause was adopted 
by only five majority. The senators who supported it 
were keenly alive to its dangerous character. Mr. Fes- 
senden, chairman of the committee of finance, said of 
the bill, ' It proposes something utterly unknown in this 
government from its foundation : a resort to a measure of 
doubtful constitutionality, to say the least of it, which 
has always been denounced as ruinous to the credit of 
any government which has recourse to it j ... a meas- 
ure which, when it has been tried by other countries, as 
it often has been, has always proved a disastrous failure.' 
" With extreme reluctance he supported the bill, but 
said the committee was bound ' that an assurance should 
be given to the country that it was to be resorted to 
only as a policy ; that it was what it professed to be, 
but a temporary measure. I have not heard any man ex- 



HIS FINANCIAL RECORD. ' 289 

press a contrary opinion, or, at least, any man who has 
spoken on the subject in Congress. . . . All the gen- 
tlemen who have written on the subject, except some 
wild speculators on currency, have declared that as a 
policy it would be ruinous to any people ; and it has 
been defended, as I have stated, simp!?/ and solely upon the 
ground that it is to he a single measure standing alone, ana 
not to he repeated. ... It is put upon the ground of 
absolute, overtvhelming necessity. 

" Mr. Sumner, who supported the bill, said : * Surely 
we must all be against paper money, we must insist 
upon maintaining the integrity of the Government, and 
we must all set our faces against any proposition like the 
present except as a temporary expedient, rendered im- 
perative by the exigency of the hour. ... A remedy 
which at another moment you would reject is now pro- 
posed. Whatever may be the national resources, they 
are not now in reach except by summary process. Re- 
luctantly, painfully, I consent that the process should 
issue. And yet I cannot give such a vote without 
warning the Government against the dangers from such 
an experiment. The medicine of the constitution must 
not become its daily bread.' 

" Such was the unanimous sentiment which animated 
Congress in making its solemn pledge to return to the 
old path as sooji as the immediate danger should pass. 
"The close of the war revealed some change of 
opinion, but the purpose of 1862 was still maintained. 
December 14, 1865, the House of Representatives re- 
solved — 

" That the House cordially concurs in the views of 

19 



290 JAMES A. GARFIELD : 

ilio Secretary of the Treasury in relation to the neces- 
sity of a contraction of the currency with a view to as 
early a resumption of specie payments as the business 
interest of the country will permit; and we hereby 
pledge co-operative action to this end as speedily as 
practicable. 

" This resolution was adopted on a call of the ayes 
and noes, by the decisive vote of one hundred and 
forty-four to six. 

*' The last ten years have witnessed such a change 
of sentiment as seldom occurs in one generation. Dur- 
ing that time, we have had a Babel of conflicting theo- 
ries. Every exploded financial dogma of the last two 
hundred years has been revived and advocated. Con- 
gresses and political parties have been agitated and con- 
vulsed by the discussion of old and new schemes to 
escape from the control of the universal laws of value, 
and to reach prosperity and wealth without treading 
the time-worn path of honest industry and solid values. 
All this recalls Mr. Chase's definition of irredeemable 
paper money. 

" The great conflict of opinion resulting from this 
change of sentiment finds expression in the cries of 
*hard money' and ^soft money' which have been so 
constantly echoed from State to State during the last six 
months. Following these, as rallying-cries, the people 
are assembled in hostile political camps, from which they 
will soon march out to fight the Presidential battle of 
1876. 

^^ The recently invented term * soft money ' does not 
convey a very precise notion of the doctrine it is in- 



mS FINANCIAL RECORD. 



201 



tended to describe. In fact, it is applied to the doc- 
trines of several distinct groups of theorists, who differ 
widely among themselves, but who all agree in opposing 
a return to specie as the basis of our monetary system. 

" The scope of these opinions will be seen in the 
declarations which recent public discussions have brought 
forth. 

(1.) Most of the advocates of soft money deny that 
political economy is a universal science. They insist 
that each nation should have a political economy of its 
own. In pursuance of this opinion, they affirm that our 
country should have a standard of value peculiar to 
itself, and a circulating medium which other nations will 
not use ; in short, a non-exportable currency. 

" ' Beyond the sea, in foreign lands, it [our greenback 
currency] fortunately is not money ; but, sir, when have 
we had such an unbroken career of prosperity in busi- 
ness as since we adopted this non-exportable currency ? ' 
—(Hon. W. D. Kelley.) 

"'Money should be a thing of or belonging to a 
country, not of the world. An exportable commodity 
is not fitted to be money.' — (Quoted as a motto by 
Henry Carey Baird.) 

"'I desire the dollar to be made of such material 
that it shall never be exported or desirable to carry i-t 
out of the country.' — (Hon. B. F. Butler, Cooper In- 
stitute, October 15, 1875.) 

" ' The venerable Henry C. Carey, under date of 
August 15, 1875, addressed a long letter to the chair- 
man of the Detroit Greenback Convention, in which he 
argues that this country ought to maintain permanentl)' 



292 JAMES A. GARFIELD : 

a non-exportable circulation.' He says, ' This important 
idea was first promulgated by Mr. Rauget, thirty-six 
years ago.' 

" I will quote one other financial authority, which 
shows that the honor of this discovery does not belong 
to Rauget, nor to the present century. In his work en 
titled ' Money and Trade Considered : with a Proposal for 
Supplying the Nation with Money/ published at Edin- 
burgh, 1705, John Law says : 

" ' If a money be established that has no intrinsic 
value, and its extrinsic value be such as it will not be 
exported, nor will not be less than the demand for it 
"within the country, wealth and power will be atta,ined, 
and will be less precarious. . . . The paper money herein 
proposed being always equal in quantity to the demand, 
the people will be employed, the country improved, 
manufacture advanced, trade — domestic and foreign — 
carried on, and wealth and power attained ; and. [it] not 
being liable to be exported, the people will not be set 
idle, etc., and wealth and power will be less precarious.' 

" The subsequent experiments of Law are fitting 
commentaries. 

" (2.) They propose to abandon altogether the use of 
gold and silver as standards of value or instruments of 
exchange, and hold that the stamp of the government, 
not the value of the material on which it is impressed, 
constitutes money: 

*' ' 1 want the dollar stamped on some convenient and 
cheap material, of the least possible intrinsic value, . . . 
and I desire that the dollar so issued shall never be 
redeemed.' — (Hon. B. F. Butler, Cooper Institute.) 



I 



HIS FINANCIAL RECORD. 



293 



« * A piece of pig-metal is just as much money as a 
piece of gold, until the public authority has stamped it 
and said that it shall be taken for so much. . . . Sup- 
pose, then, that instead of taking a bar of silver or a bar 
of pig-metal, the government of the United States takes 
a piece of paper, called a greenback, and says that this 
shall pass for a legal tender in the receipt and expendi- 
ture of government dues, and in all the transactions of 
the people. Suppose this government to be a govern- 
ment of good standing, of sound credit, and responsible 
for its paper. This dollar thus stamped, instead of a 
piece of metal being stamped, is to all intents and pur- 
poses equivalent to a silver dollar when it has been made 
such by the government of the United States.' — (Cam- 
paign speech of Governor Allen, Gallipolis, Ohio, July 

21, 1875.) 

" * The use of gold or other merchandise as money is 
a barbarism unworthy of the age.'— (Wallace P. Groom, 

New York.) 

" ' The pretense of redemption in gold and silver is 
of necessity a delusion and an absurdity.' — (Britton A. 

Hill, Missouri.) 

" * The government can make money of any material 
and of any shape and value it pleases.' — (Hon. 0. S. 
Halstead, New Jersey.) 

" (H.) They are not agreed among themselves as to 
what this new soft money shall be. They do agree, 
however, that the national banking system shall be abol- 
ished, and that whatever currency may be adopted shall 
be issued directly from the treasury, as the only money 
of the nation. Three forms are proposed : — 



2i)4 JAMES A. GARFIELD : 

" First. The legal tenders we now have, their vol 
ume to be increased and their redemption indefinitely 
postponed. The advocates of this form are the infla- 
tionists proper, who care more for the volume than the 
character of the currency. 

" Second. ' Absolute money ;' that is, printed pieces 
of paper, called dollars, to be the only standard of value, 
the only legal tender for all debts, public and private, the 
only circulating medium. The advocates of this kind of 
' money,' though few in number, claim the highest place 
as philosophers. 

" The ablest defence of this doctrine will be found in 
a brochure of one hundred and eighteen pages, by Britton 
A. Hill, published in St. Louis during the present year 
and entitled ' Absolute Money.' The author says (page 
53) : - 

" ' If such national legal-tender money is not of itself 
sovereign and absolute, but must be convertible into some 
other substance or thing, before it can command universal 
circulation, what matters it whether that other substance 
or thing be interest-bearing bonds or gold or silver coin ? 
. . . The coin despotism cannot be broken by substi- 
tuting in its place the despotism of interest-bearing 
bonds.' 

" Third. A legal-tender note not redeemable, bufe 
exchangeable, at the will of the holder, for a bond of the 
United States bearing 3.65 per cent, interest, which 
bond shall in turn be exchangeable, at the will of the 
holder, for legal-tender notes. In order that this cur- 
rency shall be wholly emancipated from the tyranny and 
barbarism of gold and silver, most of its advocates iusiwSt 



HIS FINANCIAL RECX)RD. 295 

that the interest on the bonds shall be paid in the pro- 
posed paper money. This financial perpetual motion is 
regarded as the great discovery of our era, and there are 
numerous claimants for the honor of being the first to 
discover it. 

" Mr. Wallace P. Groom, of New York, has charac- 
terized this currency in a paragraph which has been so 
frequently quoted, that it may be fairly called their 
creed. It is in these words : 

" ' In the interchangeability (at the option of the 
holder) of national faper money with government bonds 
bearing a fixed rate of interest, there is a subtle princi- 
ple that will regulate the movements of finance and com- 
merce as accurately as the motion of the steam-engine is 
regulated by its governor. Such Paper Money Tokens 
Avould be much nearer perfect measures of value than 
gold or silver ever have been or ever can be. The use 
of gold or other merchandise as money is a barbarism 
unworthy of the age.' 

" (4.) The paper money men are unanimous in the 
opinion that the financial crisis of 1873 was caused by 
an insufficient supply of currency, and that a large in- 
crease will stimulate industry, restore prosperity, and 
largely augment the wealth of this country. 

" Hon. Alexander Campbell, of Illinois, a leading 
writer of the soft money school, thinks there should now 
be in circulation not less than $1,290,0(30,000 of legal- 
tender notes. {^North- Western Review, November, 1873, 
page 152.) 

" John G. Drew, another prominent writer, insists 
that ' as England is an old and settled country, and we 



296 JAMES A. GARFIELD : 

are just building ours/ we ought to have at least 
per capita, or an aggregate of $2,500,000,000.— (' Our 
Currency : What it is and what it should be.') 

" No doubt the very large vote in Ohio and Pennsyl- 
vania in favor of soft money resulted, in great measure, 
from the depressed state of industry and trade, and a 
vague hope that the adoption of these doctrines would 
bring relief. The discussion in both States was able ; 
and toward the close of the campaign, it was manifest 
that sound principles were every day gaining ground. 
Important as was the victory in those States, it is a great 
mistake to suppose that the struggle is ended. The ad- 
vocates of soft money are determined and aggressive, and 
they confidently believe they will be able to triumph in 
1876. 

" It ought to be observed, as an interesting fact of 
current history, that the soft money men are making and 
collecting a literature which cannot fail to delight the 
antiquarian and the reader of curiosities of Uterature. 
They are ransacking old libraries to find any 

" Quaint and curious 
Volume of forgotten lore " 

which may give support to their opinions. In a recent 
pamphlet, Henry Carey Baird refers to Andrew Yarran- 
ton 'as the father of English poHtical economy.' The 
forgotten treatise which is now enrolled among the pa- 
tristic books of the new school was published in London 
Id 1677, and is entitled, ' England's Improvement by Sea 
and Land. To outdo the Dutch without Fighting, to 
pay Debts without Moneys, and to set at work all the 
Poor of England with the Growth of our own Lands ' 



HIS FINANCIAL RECORD. 297 

" The author proposes a public bank, based on the 
registered value of houses and lands, * the credit whereof 
making paper go in trade equal with ready money, yea 
better, in many parts of the world than money.' He was 
perhaps the first Englishman who suggested a currency 
based on land. On pages 30-33 of his book may be found 
his draft of a proposed law, which provides ' that all bonds 
or bills issued on such registered houses may be transfer- 
able, and shall pass and be good from man to man in the 
nature of bills of exchange.' 

" The writings of John Law are also finding vigorous 
defenders. Britton A. Hill, in the pamphlet already 
quoted, devotes a chapter to his memory, compares him 
favorably with Leibnitz and Newton, and says, 'John 
Law is justly regarded as one of the most profound think- 
ers of his age, in that he originated the first fundamental 
principle of this proposed absolute money.' The admirers 
of 'father' Yarranton should see to it that the outdoer 
of the Dutch is not robbed of his honors by the great 
Scotsman. 

" Enulish history is being hunted through to find 
some comfort for the new doctrines in the writings of 
that small minority who resisted the Bullion Report of 
1810 and the resumption of cash payments in 1819, and 
continued to deJiounce them afterwards. Historv must 
be rewritten. We must learn that Mathias Attwood 
(who?), not Lord Liverpool, Huskisson, or Peel, was the 
fountain of financial wisdom. Doubleday, whom no 
Englirih writer has thought it worth while to answer, is 
much quoted by the new school, and they have lately 
come to feci the profoundest respect for Sir Archibald 



298 JAMES A. GARFIELD: 

Alison, because of his extravagant assault upon the Re- 
sumption Act of 1819. Alison holds a place in English 
literature chiefly because he wrote a work which fills a 
gap in English history not otherwise filled. 

"In 1845 he wrote a pamphlet entitled ' England in 
1815 and 1845 ; or, a Sufficient and Contracted Cur- 
rency/ which the subsequent financial and commercial 
events in his country have so fully refuted that it has 
slept for a generation in the limbo of things forgotten. 
It is now unearthed, and finds an honored place in the 
new literature. 

"As a specimen of AHsoa's financial wisdom, we 
quote the following (pages 2, 3) : * The eighteen years of 
war between 1797 and 1815 were, as all the world knows, 
the most glorious and, taken as a whole, the most pros- 
perous that Great Britain has ever known. . . . Never has 
a prosperity so universal and unheard-of pervaded every 
department of the empire.' He then enumerates the 
evidences of this prosperity, and prominent among them 
is this : ' While the revenue raised by taxation was but 
£21,000,000 in 1796, it had reached £72,000,000 in 
1815 ; and the total expenditures from taxes and loans 
had reached £117,000,000 in 1815.' Happy people, 
whose burdens of taxation were quadrupled in eighteen 
years, and whose expenses, consumed in war, exceeded 
their revenues by the sum of $225,000,000 in gold ! 

" The inflationists have not been so fortunate in aug- 
menting their literary store from the writings and 
speeches of our ejirly American statesmen. Still, they 
have made vigorous efforts to draft into their service any 
isolated paragraph that can be made useful for their pur 



HIS FINANCIAL RECORD 



299 



pose. So far as I have seen, tliey have found no comfort 
in this search except in very short extracts from three ot 
the great leaders of public thought. The first is from a 
juvenile essay in defence of paper money, written by 
Benjamin Franklin in 1729, when he was twenty-twc 
years of age. This has been frequently quoted during 
the last four years. They are not so fond of quoting 
Franklin, the statesman and philosopher, who after a life- 
long experience wrote, in 1783, these memorable words : 
" I lament with you the many mischiefs, the injustice, 
the corruption of manners, etc., that attend a depreciated 
currency. It is some consolation to me that I washed 
my hands of that evd by predicting it in Congress, and 
proposing means that would have been effectual to pre- 
vent it if they had been adopted. Subsequent operations 
that I have executed demonstrate that my plan was 
practicable but it was unfortunately rejected.'— (Works, 

x. 9.) 

" A serious attempt has been made to capture Thomas 
Jefferson and bring him into the service. The following 
passage from one of his letters to John W. Eppes (Works, 
vi. 140) has been piiraded through this discussion with 
all the emphasis of itaUcs, thus : 

" ' Ba7ik paper must be suppressed, and the circulating 
medium must le restored to the nation to whom it belongs. 
It is the only fund on which they can rely for loans ; it 
is the only resource which can never fail them, and it is 
an abundant one for every necessary purpose. Treasury 
hills bottomed on taxes, hearing or not bearing interest, as 
may be found necessary, thrown into circulation, ivill take 
the place of so much gold or silver, which last, when 



300 JAMES A. GARFIELD : 

crowded, will find an efflux into other countries, and 
thus keep the quantum of medium at its salutary level.' 

" This passage was quoted as a strong point for the 
soft-money men in their campaign documents in Ohio, 
last Ml. They did not find it convenient to quote the 
great Virginian more fully. When this letter was writ- 
ten, the United States was at war with England, with no 
friendly nation from whom to obtain loans. The demand 
for revenue was urgent, and the treasury was empty. 
Mr. Jefferson had long been opposed to the state banks, 
and he saw that by suppressing them and issuing treas- 
ury notes, with or without interest, the government could 
accomplish two things : destroy state bank currency, and 
obtain a forced loan, in the form of circulating notes. In 
enforcing this view, he wrote from Monticello to Mr. 
Eppes, June 24, 1813 : * I am sorry to see our loans be- 
gin at so exorbitant an interest. And yet, even at that, 
you will soon be at the bottom of the loan-bag. Ours is 
an agricultural nation. ... In such a nation there is one 
and only one resource for loans, sufficient to carry them 
through the expense of a war ; and that will always be 
sufficient, and in the power of an honest government, 
punctual in the preservation of its faith. The fund I 
mean is the mass of circulating coin. Every one knows 
that, although not literally, it is nearly true that every 
paper dollar emitted banishes a silver one from the cir- 
culation. A nation, therefore, making its purchases and 
payments with bills fitted for circulation, thrusts an equal 
iuni of coin out of circulation. This is equivalent to bor- 
rowing that sum ; and yet the vendor, receiving payment 
in a medium as elTectual as coin for his purchases or pay- 



HIS FINANCIAL RECORD. 301 

ments, has no claim to interest. ... In this way I ara 
not without a hope that this great, this sole resource for 
loans in an agricultural country might yet be recovered 
for the use of the nation during war ; and, if obtained 
in perpetuum, it would always be sufficient to carry us 
through any war, provided that in the interval between 
war and war all the outstanding paper should be called 
in, coin be permitted to flow in again, and to hold the 
field of circulation until another war should require its 
yielding place again to the national medium.' 

" From this it appears that Jefferson favored the issue 
of treasury notes to help us through a war ; but he in- 
sisted that they should be wholly retired on the return of 
peace. His three long letters to Eppes are full of power- 
ful and eloquent denunciations of paper money. The 
soft money men appeal to Jefferson. We answer them 
in his own words : ' The truth is that capital nuiy be pro- 
duced by industry, and accumulated by economy ; but 
jugglers only will propose to create it by legerdemain 
tricks of paper money.' — (Letter to Eppes, Works, vi. 
239.) 

" Their third attempt to elect some eminent states- 
man as an honorary member of the new school affords a 
striking illustration of a method too often adopted in our 
politics. It was very confidently stated by several ad- 
vocates of soft money that John C. Calhoun had sug- 
gested that a paper money, issued directly by the gov- 
ernment and made receivable for all public dues, wouul 
be as good a currency as gold and silver. Mr. llili 
finally claimed Calhoun's authority in support of his ab- 
solute money, and printed on pages 56, 57 of his pam- 



:^n2 JAMES A. GARFIELD : 

plilet a passage from a speech of Calhoun's. This extract 
was used in the Ohio campaign with much effect, until it 
was shown that there had been omitted from the passage 
quoted these important words : ' leaviny its creditors to 
iaJce it [treasury note circulation] or gold and silver at 
their option.' After this exposure, the great nullifier was 
left out of the canvass. 

"Thus far we have attempted' no more than to ex- 
hibit the state of public opinion in regard to the cur- 
rency in 1861-62, the changes that have since occmred, 
and the leading doctrines now held by the soft money 
men. 

" Most of these dogmas are old, and have long ago 
been exploded. All are directly opposed to principles as 
well established as the theorems of Euclid. 



THE DOCTRINE OF HAED MONEY. 

" Believing that this generation of Americans is not 
willing to ignore all past experience, and to decide so 
great an issue as though it were now raised for the first 
time, we shall attempt to state, in brief compass, the 
grounds on which the doctrine of hard money rests. 

" Hard money is not to be understood as implying 
a currency consisting of coin alone (though many have 
held, with Benton, that no other is safe), but that coin 
of ascertained weight and fineness, duly stamped and 
authenticated by the government, is the only safe stand- 
ard of money ; and that no form of credit-currency is 
safe unless it be convertible into coin at the will of the 
holder. 



HIS FINANCIAL RECORD. 303 

MOXEY AS AN INSTRUMENT OF EXCHANGE. 

" As preliminary to this discussion, it is necessary to 
determine the functions which money performs as an in- 
strument of exchange. As barter was the oldest form of 
exchange, so it was and still is tlie ultimate object and 
result of all exchanges. For example : I wish to ex- 
change my commodities or services for commodities or 
services of a different kind. I fmd no one at hand who 
has what I want, and wants what I have. I therefore 
exchange, or, as we say, sell, my commodities for money, 
which I hold until I find some one who wishes to sell 
what I want to buy. I then make the purchase. The 
two transactions have, in fact, resulted in a barter. It 
amounts to the same thing as though, at the start, I had 
found a man who wanted my commodities, and was will- 
ing to give me in exchange the commodities I desired. 
By a sale and a purchase I have accomplished my object. 
Money was the instrument by which the transactions 
were made. The great French economist, J. B. Say, has 
justly described a sale as half a barter, for we see, in the 
case above stated, that two sales were equivalent, in 
effect, to one act of simple barter. But some time may 
elapse between my sale and the subsequent purchase. 
How are my rights of property secured during the inter- 
val ? That which I sold carried its value in itself as an 
exchangeable commodity ; when I had exchanged it for 
money, and was waiting to make my purchase, the secu- 
rity for my property rested wholly in the money result- 
ing from the sale. If that money be a perfect instrument 
of exchange, it must not only be the lawful measure of 



304 JAMES A. GARFIELD: 

that which I sold, but it must, of itself, be the actual 
equivalent in value. If its value depends upon the arbi- 
trary acts of government or of individuals, the results of 
my transaction depend not upon the value of that which 
I sold nor of that which I bought, nor upon my prudence 
and skill, but upon an element wholly beyond my control 
— a medium of exchange which varies in value from day 
to day. 

" Such being the nature of exchanges, we should ex- 
pect to find that so soon as man begins to emerge from 
the most primitive condition of society and the narrow- 
est circle of family life, he will seek a measure and an in- 
strument of exchange among his first necessities. And 
in fact it is a matter of history that in the hunting state 
skins were used as money, because they were the product 
of chief value. In the pastoral state — the next advance 
in civilization — sheep and cattle, being the most valuable 
and negotiable form of property, were used as money. 
This appears in the earliest literature. In the Homeric 
poems oxen are repeatedly mentioned as the standard by 
which wealth was measured. The arms of Diomed were 
declared to be worth nine oxen, as compared with those 
of Glaucos, worth one hundred. A tripod, the first prize 
for wrestlers, in the twenty-third book of the Iliad was 
valued at twelve oxen, and a female captive, skilled in 
industry, at four.* 

" In many languages the name for money is identical 
with that for some kind of cattle. Even our word * fee ' is 
said to be the Anglo-Saxon * feoh,* meaning both money 
and cattle. Sir H. b. Maine, speaking ot the primitive 

* Jevon's " Monej and the Mechanism trf Exchange," page 21. 



HIS FINANCIAL RECORD. 305 

state of societ}'', says : 'Being counted by the head, the 
kine was called capitahy whence the economic term capi- 
tal, the law term chattel, and our common name cattle. 

" In the agricultural and manufacturing stage of civi- 
lization, many forms of vegetable and manufactured pro- 
ducts were used as money, such as corn, wheat, tobacco, 
cacao-nuts, cubes of tea, colored feathers, shells, nails, etc. 

"All these species of wealth were made instruments 
of exchange because they were easily transferable, and 
their value wns the best known and least fluctuating. 
But the use of each as money was not universal ; in fact, 
was but little known beyond the bounds of a single na- 
tion. Most of them were non-exportable; and though 
that fact would have commended them to the favor of 
some of our modern economists, yet the mass of mankind 
have entertained a different opinion, and have sought to 
find a medium whose value and fitness to be used as 
money would be universally acknowledged. 

" It is not possible to ascertain when and by whom 
the precious metals were first adopted as money ; but for 
more than three thousand years they have been acknowl- 
edged as the forms of material wealth best fitted to be 
the measure and instrument of exchange. Each nation 
and tribe, as it has emerged from barbarism, has aban- 
doned its local, non-exportable medium, and adopted what 
is justly called ' the money of the world.' 

" Coinage was a later device, employed for the sole 
purpose of fashioning into a convenient shape the metal 
to be used as money, and of ascertaining and certifying 
officially the weight and fineness of each piece. 

" And here has arisen the chief error in reference to 

20 



30G . JAMES A. GARFIELD : 

the nature of money. Because the government coins it, 
names its denomination, and dech^res its value, many 
have been led to imagine that the firovcrnment creates it, 
that its value is a gift of the law. 

" The analogy of other standards will aid us at this 
point. Our constitution empowers Concrress to fix the 
standard of weights and measures, as well as of values. 
But Congress cannot create extension, or weight, or value. 
It can measure that which has extension ; it can weigh 
that which is ponderable ; it can declare and subdivide 
and name a standard ; but it cannot make length of that 
which has no length ; it cannot make weight of that which 
is imponderable ; it cannot make value of that which has 
DO value. Ex nihilo niliil fit. The power of Congress to 
make anything it pleases receivable for taxes is a matter 
wholly distinct from the subject now under discussion. 
Legislation cannot make that a measure of value which 
neither possesses nor represents any definitely ascertained 
value. 

COIX AN" IXSTRUMEXT OF UNIVERSAL CREDIT. 

" Now apply to the operations of exch;mge a given 
coin, whose weight and fineness are certified by public 
authority. We cannot do this better than by borrowing 
the language of Frederic Bastiat, found in his treatise en- 
titled ^ Maudit Argent.' He says : 

" * You have a crown. What does it signify in your 
hands ? It is the testimony and the proof that }'0U have 
at some time performed a work ; and, instead of profiting 
by it yourself, you have allowed the community to enjoy 
it, m the person of your client. This crown is the evi- 



niS FINANCIAL RECORD. 307 

deuce that you have rendered a service to society; and 
it states the value of that service. Moreover, it is the 
evidence that you have not drawn from the community 
the real equivalent, as was your riglit. In order to ena- 
ble you to exercise that right wiien and as you please, 
society, by the hand of your client, has given you a recog- 
nition, a title, a hond of the commonwealth, a token, in short 
a crown, which differs from other fiduciary titles only in 
this, that it carries its value in itself; and if you can read 
with the eyes of the mind the inscription which it bears, 
you will distinctly decipher these words: 'Render to the 
hearer a service equivalent to that which he has rendered to 
society ; a value received, stated, proved, and measured hy 
that which is in me! ... If you now give that crown to 
me as the price of a service, this is the result : your ac- 
count with society for real services is found regular, is 
balanced and closed, . . . and I am justly in the position 
where you were before.' 

" Edmund Burke expressed the same opinion when 
he said, ' Gold and silver are the two great, recognized 
species that represent the lasting, conventional credit of 
mankind.' 

" Three thousand years of experience have proved 
that the precious metals are the best materials of which 
to make the standard of value, the instrument of ex- 
change. They are themselves a store of value ; they are 
durable, divisible, easily transported, and more constant 
in value than any other known substances. In the form 
of dust and bars, as merchandise, their value is precisely 
equal to their declared value as money, less the very 
small cost of coinage. Coin made of these metals meas- 



308 JAMES A. GARFIELD t 

ures wealth, because it represents wealth in itself, just as 
the yard-stick measures length, and the standard pound 
measures weight, because each has, in itself, that which 
it represents. 

" Again, the precious metals are products of labor, 
and their value, like that of all other merchandise, de- 
pends upon the cost of production. A coin represents 
and measures the labor required to produce it ; it may be 
called an embodiment of labor. Of course this statement 
refers to the average cost of production throughout the 
world, and that average has varied but little for many 
centuries. It is a flat absurdity to assert that such a re- 
ality as labor can be measured and really represented by 
that which costs little or no labor. For these reasons the 
precious metals have been adopted by the common law of 
the world as the best materials in which to embody the 
unit of money. 

STATUTES CANNOT KEPEAL THE LAWS OF VALUE. 

" The oldest and perhaps the most dangerous delusion 
in reference to money is the notion that it is a creation of 
law; that its value can be fixed and maintained by au- 
thority. Yet no error has been more frequently refuted 
by experience. Every debasement of the coin, and every 
attempt to force its circulation at a higher rate than the 
market value of the metal it contains, has been punished 
by the inevitable disasters that always follow the viola- 
tion of economic laws. 

" The great parliamentary debate of 1695, on the re- 
coinage of English money, affords an absolute demonstra- 
tion of the truth that legislatures cannot repeal the laws 



HIS FINANCIAL RECORD. 309 

of value. Mr. Lowndes, the secretary of the treasury, 
though he held that a debasement of the coinage should 
be rejected as ' dangerous and dishonorable,' really be- 
lieved, as did a large number of members of Parliament, 
that if, by law, they raised the name of the coin, they 
would raise its value as money. As Macaulay puts it, 
He was not in the least aware that a piece of metal with 
the king's head on it was a commodity of which the price 
was governed by the same law which governs the price of 
a piece of metal fashioned into a spoon or a buckle ; and 
that it was no more in the power of Parliament to make 
the kingdom richer by calling a crown a pound than to 
make the kingdom larger by calling a furlong a mile. He 
seriously believed, incredible as it may seem, that if the 
ounce of silver were divided into seven shillings instead 
of five, foreign nations would sell us their wines and their 
silks for a smaller number of ounces. He had a consider- 
able following, composed partly of dull men who really 
believed what he told them, and partly of shrewd men 
who were perfectly willing to be authorized by law to 
pay a hundred pounds with eighty.' — (History of Eng- 
land, chapter xxi.) 

" It was this debate that called forth those masterly 
essays of John Locke on the nature of money and coin, 
which still remain as a monument to his genius and an 
unanswerable demonstration that money obeys the laws 
of value anil is not the creature of arbitrary edicts. At 
the same time. Sir Isaac Newton was called from those 
dublime discoveries in science which made his name im- 
mortal, to aid the king and Parliament in ascertaining the 
true basis of money. After the most thorough exandna- 



310 JAMES A. GARFIELD : 

tion, this great thinker reached the same conclusions 
The genius of these two men, aided by the enlightened 
statesmanship of Montague and Soniers, gave the victory 
to honest money, and preserved the commercial honor of 
England for a century. 

PAPEK MONEY AN INSTPtUMENT OF CPtEDIT. 

" In discussing the use of paper as a representative 
of actual money, we enter a new branch of political sci- 
ence, namely, the general theory of credit. We shall go 
astray at once if we fail to perceive the character of this 
element. Credit is not capital. It is the permission 
given to one man to use the capital of another. It is not 
an increase of capital ; for the same property cannot be 
used as capital by both the owner and the borrower of it, 
at the same time. But credit if not abused, is a great 
and beneficent power. By its use the productiveness of 
capital is greatly increased. A large amount of capital 
is owned by people who do not desire to employ it in the 
actual production of wealth. There are many others 
who are ready and willing to engage in productive enter- 
prise, but have not the necessary capital. Now, if the 
owners of unemployed capital have conhdence in the hon- 
esty and skill of the latter class, they lend their capital 
at a fair rate of interest, and thus the production of 
wealth will be greatly increased. Frequently, however, 
the capital loaned is not actually transferred to the bor- 
rower, but a written evidence of his title to it is given in- 
stead. If this title is transferable it may be used as a 
substitute for money ; for, within certain limits, it has the 
same purchasing power. When these evidences of credit 



HIS FINANCIAL RECORD. 



311 



are in the form of checks and drafts, bills of exchange 
and promissory notes, they are largely used as substitutes 
for money, and very greatly facilitate exchanges. Bui 
all are based upon confidence, upon the belief that they 
represent truly what they profess to represent — aciual 
capital, measured by real money, to be delivered on de 
mand. 

" These evidences of credit have become in modern 
times the chief instruments of exchange. The bank has 
become as indispensable to the exchange of values as the 
railroad is to the transportation of merchandise. It is 
the institution of credit by means of which these various 
substitutes for money are made available. It has been 
shown that not less than ninety per cent, of all the ex- 
changes in the United States are accomplished by means 
of bank credits. The per cent, in England is not less 
than ninety-five. Money is now the small change of 
commerce. It is perhaps owing to this fact that many 
are so tiazzled by the brilliant achievements of credit as 
to forget that it is the shadow of capital, not its sub- 
stance ; that it is the sign, the brilliant sign, but not the 
thing signified. Let it be constantly borne in mind that 
the check, the draft, the bill of exchange, the' promissory 
note, are all evidences of debt, of money to be paid, if 
not, they are fictitious and fraudulent. If the real capital 
Ion which they are based be destroyed, they fall with it, 
and become utterly worthless. If confidence in their 
prompt payment be impaired, they immediately depre- 
ciate in [)roporLion to the distrust. 

" We iiave mentioned among these instruments of 
credit the promissory note. Its character as an evidence 



312 JAMES A. GARFIELD : 

of debt is not changed when it comes to us illuminated by 
the art and mystery of plate-printing. Name it national 
bank-note, greenback, B.mk of England note, or what you 
will ; let it be signed by banker, president, or king, it is 
none the less an evidence of debt, a promise to pay. It 
is not money, and no power on earth can make it money. 
But it is a title to money, a deed for money, and can be 
made equal to money only when the debtor performs the 
promise — delivers the property which the deed calls for, 
pays the debt. When that is done, and when the com- 
munity knows, by actual test, that it will continue to be 
done, then, and not till then, this credit-currency will in 
fact be the honest equivalent of money. Then it will, 
in large measure, be used in preference to coin, because 
of its greater convenience, and because the cost of is- 
suing new notes in |>lace of those which are worn and 
mutilated is much less than the loss which the community 
sulfers by abrasion of the coin. To the extent, therefore, 
that paj)er will circulate in place of coin, as a substitute 
and an equivalent, such circulation is safe, convenient, 
and economical. And what is the limit of. such safe cii- 
culution? Economic science has demonstrated, and the 
uniform experience of nations has proved, that the term 
which murks that limit, the sole and supreme test of 
safety, is the exchangeability of such pai)er for coin, 
dollar for dollar, at the will of the holder. The smallest 
increase in volume beyond that limit produ(;cs deprecia- 
tion in the value of each paper dollar. It then requires 
more of such depreciated dollars to purchase a given 
quantity of gold or merchandise than it did before depre- 
ciatiuu began. In other words, prices rise in comparison 



HIS FINANCIAL RECORD. 313 

with such currency. The fact that it is made a legal 
tender for taxes and private debts does not free it from 
the inexorable law that increase of volume decreases the 
value of every part. 

" It is equally true that an increase of the precious 
metals, coined or uncoined, decreases their value in com- 
parison with other commodities ; but these metals are of 
such universal currency, on account of their intrinsic 
value, that they flow to all parts of the civilized world, 
and the increase is so widely distributed that it produces 
but a small increase of prices in any one country. Not 
so with an inconvertible paper money. It is not of uni- 
versal currency. It is national, not international. It is 
non-exportable. The whole effect of its depreciation is 
felt at home. The level of Salt Lake has risen ten feet 
during the last thirty years, because it has no outlet. 
But all the floods of the world have made no perceptible 
change in the general level of the sea. 

" The character of inconvertible paper money, the re- 
lation of its quantity to its value, and its inevitable depre- 
ciation by an increase of volume, were demonstrated in 
the Bullion Report of 1810 by facts and arguments whose 
Curce find conclusiveness have never been shaken. In 
the gi'eat debate that followed, in Parliament and through 
the press, may be found the counterpart of almost every 
doctrine and argument which has been advanced in our 
own country since the suspension of specie payments. 
Then, as now, there were statesmen, doctrinaires, and 
business men who insisted that the bank-notes were not 
depreciated, but that gold had risen in value ; who de- 
nied that gold coin was any longer the standard of value, 



314 JAMES A. GARFIELD: 

and declared that a bank-note was 'abstract currency.* 
Castlerea^h announced in the House of Commons that 
the money standard was ' a sense of value, in reference 
to currency as compared with commodities.^ Another soft 
money man of that day said : ' The standard is neither 
gold nor silver, but something set up in the imagination, to 
be regulated hy public opinion.^ Though the doctrines of 
the Bullion Report were at first voted down in Parlia- 
ment, they could not be suppressed. With the dogged 
persistency which characterizes our British neighbors, 
the debate was kept u[) for ten years. Every propo- 
sition and counter proposition was sifted, the intelli- 
gence and conscience of the nation were invoked ; the 
soft money men were driven from every position they 
occupied in 1811, and at last the ancient standard was 
restored. When the b.ink redeemed its notes, the dif- 
ference between the mint price and the market price of 
bullion disappeared, and the volume of paper money was 
reduced in the ratio of" its former depreciation. During 
the last half century few Englishmen have risked their 
reputation for intelligence by denying the doctrines thus 
established. 

" These lessons of history cannot be wholly forgotten. 
It is too late to set up again the doctrines of Lowndes 
and Vansittart. They may disturb Jind distract public 
opinion, but can never again triumph before an intelligent 
tribunal. I commend to the soft money men of our time 
the study of this great debate and that of IG'Jo. When 
they have overturned the doctrines of Locke and Newton 
and of the Bullion Report, it will be time for them to in- 
vite us to follow their new theories. 



HIS FINANCIAL RECORD. 315 

" But we need not go abroad to obtain illustrations of 
the truth that the only cure for depreciation of the cur- 
rency is convertibility into coin. Our American colonies, 
our Continental Congress, and our State and national gov- 
ernments have demonstrated its truth by repeated and 
calamitous experiments. The fathers who drafted our 
constitution believed they had 'shut and bolted the door 
against irredeemable paper money ; ' and, since then, no 
president, no secretary of the treasury, has proposed or 
sanctioned a paper currency, in time of peace, not re- 
deemable in coin at the will of the holder. Search our 
records from 1787 to 1861, and select from any decade 
twenty of our most illustrious statesmen, and it will be 
found that not less than nineteen of them have left on 
record, in the most energetic language, their solemn pro- 
test and warning against the very doctrines we are op- 
posing. 

'' The limits of this article will allow only the briefest 
statement of the evils that flow from a depreciated cur- 
rency, evils both to the government and to the people, 
which overbalance, a thousand to one, all its real or sup- 
posed benefits. The word 'dollar' is the substantive 
word, the fundamental condition of everv contract, of 
every sale, of every payment, whether at the treasury or 
at the stand of the apple-woman in the street. The dol- 
hir is the gauge that measure every blow of the hammer_, 
every article of merchandise, every exchange of property. 
Forced by the necessities of war, we substituted for the 
this dollar the printed promise of the Government to pay 
a dollar. That promise we have not kept. We have 
suspended payment, and have compelled the citizen to 



316 JAMES A. OABFIELD : 

receive dishonored paper in place of money. The repre- 
sentative value of that paper has passed, by thousands of 
fluctuations, from one hundred cents down to thirty-eight, 
and back again to ninety. At every change, millions of 
men have suffered loss. In the midst of war, with rising 
prices and enormous gains, these losses were tolerable. But 
now, when we are slowly and painfully making our way 
back to the level of peace — now, when the pressure of hard 
times is upon us, and industry and trade depend for their 
gains upon small margins of profit, the uncertainty is an 
intolerable evil. That uncertainty is increased by doubts 
as to what Congress'will do. Men hesitate to invest their 
capital in business, when a vote in Congress may shrink 
it by half its value. Still more striking are the evils of 
such a currency in its effects upon international com- 
merce. Our purchases from and sales to foreign nations 
amount in the aggregate to one billion two hundred mil- 
lion dollars per annum, every dollar of which is measured 
in coin. Those who export our products buy with paper 
and sell for gold. Our importers buy with gold and sell 
for paper. Thus the aggregate value of our international 
exchanges is measured, successfully, by the two stand- 
ards. The loss occasioned by the fluctuation of these 
currencies in reference to each other fulls wholly on us. 
We, alone, use pnper as a standard. And who, among us, 
bears the loss? The importer, knowing the risk he runs, 
adds to his prices a suificient per cent, to insure himself 
against loss. This addition is charged over from importer 
to jobber, from jobber to retailer, until its dead weight 
falls, at last, upon the laborer who consumes the goods. 
In the same way, the exj)orter insures himself against 



HIS FINANCIAL RECORD. 317 

loss by marking down the prices he will pay for products 
to be sent abroad. In all such transactions capital is 
usually able to take care of itself. The laborer has but 
one commodity for sale, his day's work. It is his sole 
reliance. He must sell it to-day or it is lost forever. 
What he buys must be bought to-day. He cannot wait 
till prices fill. He is at the mercy of the market. Buy- 
ing or selling, the waves of its fluctuations beat against 
him. Daniel Webster never uttered a more striking 
truth than when he said : * Of all the contrivances for 
cheating the laboring classes of mankind, none has been 
more effectual than that which deludes them with paper 
money. This is the most effectual of inventions to fertil- 
ize the rich man's field by the sweat of the poor man's 
face.' 

*' But here we are met by the interconvertible-bond- 
and-currency men, who offer to emancipate us from the 
tyranny of gold and secure a more perfect standard than 
coin has ever been. Let us see. Our five per cent, 
bonds are now on a par with gold. Any actuary will 
testify that in the same market a 3.65 bond, payable, 
principal and interest, in gold, and having the same time 
to run, is worth but seventy-five cents in gold ; that is, 
thirteen cents less than the present greenback. How 
much less the bond will be worth if its interest be made 
payable in the proposed inconvertible currency, no mortal 
can calculate. It is proposed, then, to make the new 
currency equivalent to a bond which, at its birth, is thir- 
teen cents below the greenback of to-day. We are to 
take a long leap downward at the first bound. But * in- 
terconvertibility ' is the charm, the ' subtle principle,' the 



318 JAMES A.GARFIELD: 

great ^regulator of finance,' which will adjust everythirg. 
The alternate el)b and flow of bond into paper dollar, and 
paper dollar into bond, will preserve an equilibrium, an 
equipoise ; and this level of equipose is the base line that 
will measure the new standard of value. The lad who 
sold his two-dollar dog for fifty dollars, and took his pay 
in pups at ten dollars each, never doubted that he had 
made a profit of forty-eight dollars until he found how 
small a sum the whole litter would sell for in the market. 
" Undoubtedly the beam will lie level that is weight- 
ed with the bond at one end and the paper money at the 
other. But what will be the relation of that level to 
the level of real values ? Both the bond and the cur- 
rency are instruments of credit, evidences of debt. 
They cannot escape the dominion of those universal 
laws that regulate prices. If made by law the only le- 
gal tender, such a currency would doubtless occupy ike 
field. But what would be the result ? To a certain ex- 
tent the bonds themselves would be used as currency. 
The clearing-house banks of New York would doubtless 
be glad to get interest-bearing bonds instead of the 
government certificates of indebtedness, bearing no in- 
terest, which, for convenience, they now use in the 
settlement of their balances. The reserves of public 
and private btmks, which now amount to more than 
two hundred million dollars, would largely be held in 
these interest-bearing bonds. Thus the first step would 
result in compelling the government to pay interest on 
a large portion of the reserves of all the banks, public, 
and private. It will hardly be claimed, however, that 
anybody will part with his property for bonds of this 



HTS FINANCIAL RECORD. 319 

description, to hold as a permanent investment. Capi- 
tal in this country is worth more than 3.65 per cenL 
How, then, will the new currency be set afloat? The 
treasury can pay it out only in exchange for the new 
bonds or in payment of public dues. Shall we violito 
public faith by paying the gold bonds already oustand i 
ing in this new and greatly depreciated paper ? Or 
shall we, as some of the soft money men have proposed, 
enter upon a vast system of public works in order to 
put the new currency in circulation ? No doubt means 
would be found to {)ush it into circulation, so long as 
enterprise or speculation should offer a hope of greater 
profits than 3.65 per cent. Once out, it would inevita- 
bly prove a repetition of the old story: an artificial 
stimulation of business and of speculation ; large issues 
of currency; inflation of prices, depreciation of pnper, 
delirium, prostration ; ' uj» like a rocket, then down like 
a stijk.' They tell us that this cannot happen, because 
as the volume of p;iper increases, the rate of interest will 
fall, and when it reaches 3.65 per cent, the currency 
will be exchanged for bonds. But all experience is 
a'jaiiist them. Inflation has never brought down the 
rate of interest. In fact, the rate is always highest in 
countries afllicted with irredeemable paper money. For 
all practical purposes, the proposed currency would be 
unredeemed and irredeemable ;' and this is what its ad- 
vocates desire. General Butler sees ' no more reason 
for redeeming the measure of value than for redeeming 
the yardstick or the quart-pot.' This shows the utmost 
confusion of ideas. We do not redeem the yardstick or 
the quart-pot. They are, in reality, what they profess 



320 JAMES A. GARFIELD : 

to be. There is nothing better for measuring yards than 
a yardstick. But, in regard to the yardstick, we do 
what is strictly analogous to redemption when applied 
to currency. We preserve our yardstick undiminished 
and unchanged ; and, by the solemn sanction of penal 
law, we require that it shall be applied to the purchase 
and sale of all commodities that can be measured by the 
standard of length. The citizen who buys by a longer 
yardstick or sells by a shorter one than our standard, is 
punished as a felon. Common honesty requires that we 
restore, and with equal care preserve from diminution 
or change, our standard of value. 

" It has been already shown that the soft money 
men desire a vast increase of currency above the present 
volume. The assumed necessity for such an increase 
was a leading topic in the debates that preceded the 
late elections. 

" The argument, often repeated, ran substantially 
thus : 

" Fellow-citizens ! You are in great distress. The 
smoke of your furnaces no longer ascends to the sky ; 
the clang of your mills and workshops is no longer heard. 
Your workers in metal and miners in coal are out of 
employment. Stagnation of trade, depression of busi- 
ness, and public distress are seen on every hand. What 
has eaused these disasters ? Manifestly, a lack of money. 
Is there any man among you who has money enough ? 
If there be, let him stand forth and declare it. Is there 
one who does not need more money to carry on his 
business ? [Cries of No ! No !] The hard money men 
\iave brought you to this distress, by contracting the 



HIS FINANCIAL RECORD. 321 

volume of the currency, by destroying the people's 
money, your money. And they propose to complete 
your ruin by forcing the country to resume specie pay- 
ments. We come to save you from this ruin. We in- 
sist that you shall have more money, not less. We are 
resolved to make and keep the volume of currency 
^ equal to the wants of trade.' 

"These assumptions were answered by undeniable 
facts. It was shown that our large volume of paper cur- 
rency had helped to bring on the crisis of 1873, and had 
greatly aggravated its effects ; but that the main cause 
was speculation, over-trading, and, in some branches of 
business, an over-production beyond the demands of the 
market. 

" A striking illustration of the effect of over-produc 
tion was drawn from the history of one of the interior 
counties of Northern Ohio. In the midst of a wilder- 
ness, far away from the centres of trade, the pioneers 
commenced the settlement of the county at the beginning 
of the present century. Year by year their number was 
augmented. Each new settler was compelled to buy 
provisions for his family until he could raise his first 
crop. For several years this demand afforded a ready 
market, at good prices, for all the products of the farm. 
But in 1818, the supply greatly exceeded the demand. 
The wheat market was so glutted that twenty bushels 
were frequently offered for one pound of tea, and often 
refused, because tea could be bought only for money, 
and wheat could hardly be sold at all. 

" If the soft money men of our time had been among 
those farmers, they would have insisted that more 

21 



322 JAMES A. GARFIELD : 

money would raise the price of their wheat and set 
the ploughboys at work. But the pioneers knew that 
until the stock on hand was reduced, the production of 
another bushel to be sold would be labor wasted. The 
cry for more currency shows that soft money men have 
confounded credit with capital, and vaguely imagine that 
if Baore paper dollars were printed they could be bor- 
rowed without security. 

^ In whatever form the new currency be ^posed, 
whether in the so-called absolute money or e 'in- 

terconvertible paper money tokens,' as a relief from dis- 
tress, it is a delusion and a snare. All these schemes 
are reckless attempts to cut loose from real money — the 
money known and recognized throughout the world — 
and to adopt for our standard that which a great gold 
gambler of Wall Street aptly called 'phantom gold.' 
Their authors propose a radical and dangerous innova- 
tion in our political system. They desire to make the 
National Treasury a bank of issue, and to place in the 
control of Congress the vast money power of the nation, 
to be handled as the w^him, the caprice, the necessities 
of political parties may dictate. Federalist as Hamilton 
was, he held that such a power was too great to be cen- 
tralized in the hands of one body. This goes a hundred 
leagues beyond any measure of centralization that has 
yet been adopted or suggested. 

"In view of the doctrines herein advocated, wh;it 
shall be said of the present condition of our currency ? 
It is depreciated. Its purchasing power is less than that 
of real money, by about fourteen per cent. Our note^j 
are at a discount ; not because the ability of the nation 



HIS FINANCIAL RECORD. 323 

to redeem tliem is questioned, but partly because its 
good faith is doubted, and partly because the volume of 
these notes is too great to circulate at par. What that 
volume ought to be, no man can tell. Convertibility 
into coin is a perfect test, and is the only test. 

NECESSITY OF RESUMPTION. 

" The duty of the government to make its currency 
equal to real money is undeniable and imperative. First, 
because the public faith is most solemnly pledged, and 
this alone is a conclusive and unanswerable reason why 
it should be done. The perfidy of one man, or of a 
million men, is as nothing compared with the perfidy of a 
nation. The public faith was the talisman that brought 
to the treasury thirty-five hundred million dollars in 
loans, to save the life of the nation, which was not worth 
saving if its h®uor be not also saved. The public faith 
is our only hope of safety from the dangers that may 
assail us in the future. The public faith was pledged to 
redeem these notes in the very act which created them, 
and the pledge was repeated when each additional issue 
was ordered. It was again repeated in the act of 1869, 
known as the ' act to strengthen the public credit,' and 
yet again in the act of 1875, promising redemption in 
1879. 

" Second. The government should make its currency 
equal to gold because the material prosperity of its peo- 
ple dem.inds it. Honest dealing between man and man 
requires it. Just and equal legislation for the people, 
safety in trade, domestic and foreign, security in busl- 



324 



JAMES A. GARFIELT) : 



ness, just distribution of the rewards of labor — none of 
these are possible until the present false and uncertain 
standard of value has given place to the real, the certain, 
the universal standard. Its restoration will hasten the 
revival of commercial confidence, which is the basis of all 
sound credit. 

" Third. Public morality demands the re-establish- 
ment of our ancient standard. The fever of speculation 
which our fluctuating currency has engendered cannot be 
allayed till its cause is destroyed. A majority of all the 
crimes relating to money, that have been committed in 
public and private life since the war, have grown out of 
the innumerable opportunities for sudden and inordinate 
gains which this fluctuation has ofi'ered. 

" The gold panic of 1869, which overwhelmed thou- 
sands of business men in ruin, and the desperate gamb- 
ling in gold which is to-day absorbing so many miUions 
of capital that onght to be employed in producing wealth, 
V.0I0 iimue possiDie j\\\y by the difference between paper 
and gold. Resumption will destroy all that at a blow. 
It will enable all men to see the real situation of their 
affairs, and will do much toward dissipating those unreal 
and fascinating visions of wealth to be won without in- 
dustry, which have broken the fortunes and ruined the 
morals of so many active and brilliant citizens. 

^' My limits will not allow a discussion of the hard- 
ship and evils which it is feared will accompany the res- 
toration of the old standard. Whatever they may be, 
they will be light and transient in comparison with those 
we shall endure if the doctrines of soft money prevail. I 
am not able to see why the approach to specie may not 



HIS FINANCIAL RECORD. 325 

be made so gradual that the fluctuation in any one month 
will be less than that which we have suffered from month 
to month since 1869. We have travelled more than hnlf 
the distance which then separated us from the gold stand- 
ard. 

"A scale of appreciation like that by which England 
resumed in 1821 would greatly mitigate the hardships 
arising from the movement. Those who believe that the 
volume of our currenc}' is but little above its normal 
level need not fear that there will be much contraction ; 
for, with free banking, they may be sure that all the 
paper which can be an actual substitute for money will 
remain in circulation. No other ought to circulate. 

" The advocates of soft money are loud in their de- 
nunciation of the English resumption act of 1819, and 
parade the distorted views of that small and malignant 
minority of English writers who have arraigned the act 
as the cause of the agricultural distress of 1822, and the 
financial crash which followed, in 1825. The charge is 
absolutely unjust and unfounded. In 1822 a committee 
of the House of Commons, having investigated the causes 
of the agricultural distress of that and the preceding year, 
found that it was due to the operation of the corn laws, 
and to the enormous wheat crops of the two preceding 
j^ seasons. Their report makes no reference to the resump- 
tion act as a cause of the distress. In both that and the 
following year, a few of the old opponents of hard money 
offered resolutions in the House of Commons, declaring 
that the resumption act was one of the causes of the 
public distress. The resolution of 1822 was defeated by 
a vote of one hundred and forty-one to twenty-seven, and 



326 JAMES A. GARFIELD : 

that of 1823 was defeated by the still more decisive vote 
of one hundred and ninety-two to thirty. An overwhelm- 
ing majority of intelligent Englishmen look back with 
pride and satisfaction upon the act of resumption as a 
just and beneficent measure. 

" But methods and details of management are of 
slight importance in comparison with the central purpose 
so often expressed by the nation. From that purpose 
there should be no retreat. To postpone its fulfilment 
beyond the day already fixed is both dangerous and 
useless. It will make the task harder than ever. Re- 
sumption could have been accomplished in 1867 with 
less difficulty than it can be in 1879. It can be accom- 
plished more easily in 1879 than at any later date. It is 
said that we ought to wait until the vast mass of private 
debts can be adjusted. But when will that be done ? 
Horace has told us of a rustic traveller who stood on the 
bank of a river, waiting for its waters to flow by, that he 
might cross over in safety. ' At Hie lahitur et lahetur in 
omne voluhilis cevum' The succession of debts and debt 
ors will be as perpetual as the flow of the river. 

" We ought to be inspired by the recent brilliant ex- 
ample of France. Suff'ering unparalleled disasters, she 
was compelled to issue a vast volume of legal-tender 
notes in order to meet her obligations. But so soon as 
the great indemnity was paid, she addressed herself reso- 
lutely to the work of bringing her currency up to tlie 
standard of gold. During the last two years she has 
reduced her paper currency nearly seven hundred an<i 
(ii'ty million francs ; and now it is substantially at par. 

'• Amidst all her disasters she has kept her financial 



HIS FINANCIAL RECORD. 327 

credit untarnished. And this has been hei strength and 
her safety. To meet the great indemnity, she asked her 
people for a loan of three billion francs ; and twelve and 
a half times the amount was subscribed. In August, 
1874, the American Minister at Paris said, in one of 
his despatches, ' Though immense amounts were taken 
abroad, yet it seems they are all coming back to France, 
and are now being absorbed in small sums by the com- 
mon people. The result will be, in the end, that almost 
the entire loan will be held in France. Every person in 
the whole country is wishing to invest a few hundred 
francs in the new loan, and it has reached a premium ol 
four and one half to five per cent.' 

" Our public faith is the symbol of our honor and the 
pledge of our future safety. By every consideration of 
national honor, of public justice, and of sound policy, let 
us stand fast in the resolution to restore our currency to 
the standard of gold." 

On the 5th of April, 1880, Mr. Weaver, the leader 
of the Greenback party in the House, arose and addressed 
the Speaker as follows : 

" I move to suspend the rules and adopt the resolu-- 
tions which I send to the desk. 

" The Clerk read as follows : 

" ^Resolved, That it is the sense of this House that 
all currency, whether metallic or paper, necessary for the 
use and convenience of the people should be issued and 
its volume controlled by the Government, and not by or 
through the bank corporations of the country ; and when 
so issued should be a full legal tender in payment of all 
debits, public and private. 



328 JAMES A. GARFIELD : 

" * 2. Resolved, That, in the judgment of this House, 
that portion of the interest-bearing debt of the United 
States which shall become redeemable in the year 1881, 
or prior thereto, being in amount $782,000,000, should not 
be refunded be^^ond the power of the Government to ciill 
in said obligations and pay them at any time, but should 
be paid as rapidly as possible, and according to contract. 
To enable the Government to meet these obligations, the 
mints of the United States should be operated to their 
full capacity in the coinage of standard silver dollars, and 
such other coinage as the business interests of the country 
may require.' " 

As soon as the Clerk had finished reading the resolu- 
tions. General Garfield rose, and said : 

" Mr. Speaker. — I never heard the provisions of this 
resolution until it was read from the desk a few moments 
ago. It has, however, attained some historical importance 
by being talked about a good deal in the newspapers, 
and by blocking the other business of the House for some 
weeks. As I listened to its reading I noticed that it is 
one of those mixed propositions which has some good 
things in it which everybody would probably like and vote 
for if they were separated ; but the good things are used 
to sugar over what, in my judgment, is most pernicious. 

" There are three things in this resolution to which 1 
wish to call the attention of the House before they vote. 
The first is a proposition of the largest possible propor- 
tion, that all money, whether of coin or paper, that is to 
circulate in this country, ought to be manufactured and 
issued directly by the Government. I stop there. I want 
to say on that proposition to the majority in this House, 



HIS FINANCIAL RECORD. 329 

who are so strongly opposed to what they call centraliza- 
tion, th;it never was there a measure offered to the Con- 
gress of so vast and far-reaching centralism. It would 
convert the Treasury of the United States into a manu- 
factory of paper money. It makes the House of Repre- 
sentatives and Senate, or the caucus of the party which 
happens to be in the majority, the absolute dictator of 
the financial and business affairs of this country. This 
scheme surpasses all the centralism and all the Cassarism 
that Avere ever charged upon the Republican party in the 
wildest days of the war, or in the events growing out of 
the war. 

" NoAV, I say, without fear of contradiction, that prior 
to 1862 the wildest dreamer in American finance was 
never wild enough to propose such a measure of central- 
ization as that single proposition implies. The G»vern- 
nient should prescribe general laws in reference to the 
quality and character of our paper money, but should 
never become the direct manufacturer and issuer of it. 

" The second point involved in this resolution is that 
the Government of the United States shall pay all its 
public debts in this manufactured money, manufactured 
to order at the Treasury factory. Notwithstanding the 
solemn and acknowledged pledge of the Government to 
pay the principal and interest of its public debt in coin, 
this resolution declares that in this legal-tender paper the 
public debt shall be payable. 

" The third point I wish to call attention to — 

" Mr. Ewing. — Will my colleague allow me to inter- 
rupt him for a moment ? 

"Mr. Garfield.— Certainly. 



380 JAMES A. GARFIELD : 

" Mr. Ewing. — You certainly misunderstand the reso- 
lution. It declares that all public debts of the United 
States shall be paid in the money of the contract, and 
not in any coin or money the Government may choose to 
pay them in. 

"Mr. Garfield. — Any money the Government ma-y 
issue is by this resolution declared to be lawful money 
and, therefore, is to be made the money of the contract 
by the legislation proposed to-day. 

" Mr. Ewing. — That is a mere quibble based on a 
total misconstruction of the resolution. 

"Mr. Garfield. — Answer in your own time. 

" Now, the third point in this resolution is that there 
shall be no refunding of the $782,000,000 to fall due 
this year and next, but all that shall be paid. How ? 
Out of the resources of the nation ? Yes ; but the 
money to be manufactured at the Treasury is to be 
called part of these resources. Print it to death— that 
is the way to dispose of the public debt, says this res- 
olution. 

" I have only to say that these three make the triple- 
headed monster of centralization, inflation, and repudia- 
tion combined. This monster is to be let loose on the 
country as the last spawn of the dying party that thought 
it had a little life in it a year ago. It is put out at this 
moment to test the courage of the two political parties ; 
it is offered at this point when the roar of the Presiden- 
tial contest comes to us from all quarters of the country. 
In a few moments we shall see what the political parties 
will do with this beast. All I have to say, for one, is, 
meet and throttle it; in the name of honesty, in the 



HIS FINANCIAL RECORD. 331 

name of the public peace and prosperity, in the name of 
the rights of individual citizens of this country against 
centralism, worse than we ever dreamed of, meet it and 
fight it like men. Let both parties show their courage 
by meeting boldly and putting an end to its powe>* for 
mischief. Let the vote be taken." 

On the 10th of April, 1880, the House being in 
Committee of the Whole on the Appropriation Bill, the 
following (Rebate occurred between General Garfield and 
Mr. McMahon, of Ohio : 

" Mr. McMahon (Dem.), of Ohio, submitted an amend- 
ment repealing the sections of the statutes providing for 
the biennial examination of pensioners, but leaving with 
the commissioner power to order special examinations 
when necessary and to increase or reduce pensions in 
accordance with right and justice, but no pension shall 
be reduced without notice to the pensioner. The amend- 
ment concludes as follows : 

" ' In order to provide for the payment of arrears of 
pensions the Secretary of tihe Treasury is directed to 
issue immediately in payment thereof, as they may be 
adjusted, the $10,000,000 in legal tender currency aow 
in the United States Treasury, kept as a special fund for 
the redemption of fractional currency.' 

" Mr. Garfield, of Ohio, raised the point of order that 
the amendment was not germane to the bill, changed ex- 
isting law, and did not retrench expenditures. If the 
amendment could be ruled in order a proposition to break 
wholly through the whole resumption business could be 
also ruled in order." 



332 JAMES A. GARFIELD ; 

SPEECH OF MR McMAIION". 

" Mr. McMahou, of Ohio, in advocucy of that por- 
tion of the amendment providing for the reissue of the 
$10,000,000 in the Treasury, said that he had been asked 
to go farther in that direction than he proposed ; but he 
had offered a proposition which, he thought, would be 
entirely unobjectionable on the Republican side of the 
House. Why should this $10,000,000 of idle money be 
kept in the Treasury when it was clear that all of the 
fractional currency (for the redemption of which this 
money was ostensibly held) had been redeemed ? Why 
should the pensioners be told that there was a defi- 
ciency in the Treasury, and that, therefore, their arrear- 
ages of pensions could not be paid ? He had been sur- 
prised to hear the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Garfield) 
make a point of order against the pensioners of the coun- 
try, because he had supposed that that gentleman owed 
an allegiance to them which was superior to that which 
he owed to Wall Street. He made use of that language 
advisedly, because there were no people interested in 
keeping that $10,000,600 in the Treasury except those 
who were in favor of contracting the currency. The 
Secretary of the Treasury was a good deal like his col- 
league (Mr. Garfield), and was always in favor of ac- 
tion in the interest of capital. As an illustration of Mr. 
Sherman's financial policy he said, that if that gentleman 
were dying his last words would be ' Borrow money on 
government bonds to put up a tombstone over me.' The 
Treasury was loaded down with a reserve of $330,000,- 
000 in gold and currency, and yet the Secretary of the 



HIS FINANCIAL RECORD. 333 

Treasury told the people that there must be either addi- 
tional taxes or an additional issue of bonds. Here were 
$10,000,000 now in the Treasury, a part of the reserve 
authorized by law. The purpose for which it has been 
placed there has long since passed away, and it should 
now be put out to pay the arrears of pensions instead of 
issuing $10,000,000 of bonds of which the interest would 
amount to |400,000 a year." 

REPLY OF MR GAEFIELD. 

" Mr. Garfield, of Ohio, said that the attempt of his 
colleague (Mr. McMahon) to set himself up as the cham- 
pion of the pensioners, was quite too thin a disguise to 
deceive anybody. The Republican side of the House had 
tried again and again to authorize the Secretary of the 
Treasmy to extend the sales of four per cent, bonds suffi- 
ciently to cover the matter of the payment of the arrears 
of pensions, and the House, at the last session had been 
brought to a vote on that subject at least twice, and but 
for the resistance on the Democratic side of the House 
that proposition would have prevailed and the pensioners 
would have been paid their arrearages. The responsi- 
bility for not paying them rested, therefore, on those who 
resisted that proposition, not on those who made it. No 
man could torture anything which he had said to-day on 
the point of order into an unwillingness that the pension- 
ers should have their pensions paid or that all remedial 
legislation should be adopted to make their payment 
easy. It was quite too late in the day for his colleague 
to intimate that there was objection on his (Mr. Gar- 
field's) part to have the pensioners paid. He had made 



"dM JAMES A. GARFIELD : 

the point of order simply because he looked upon the 
amendment as an entering wedge, the general purpose 
of which was to break down the system of reserves, on 
which the maintenance of resumption depended. His 
colleague, whose distinguished knowledge as a financier 
no one would question, had amazed him very much by 
saying that the subsidiary currency played no part in the 
general problem of resumption. Did not his colleague 
know perfectly well that a subsidiary currency went to 
make up the bulk of circulating medium, just as much as 
greenbacks did, and just as much as gold did ? The re- 
kitions between himself and his colleague had never been 
such as to warrant either in using an impolite or indecent 
expression toward the other, and therefore his colleague 
had no more right to say, either as a matter of fact or as 
a matter of fair inference, that he (Mr. Garfield) owed his 
allegiance to Wall Street than he would have a right to 
say that his colleague owed his allegiance to the grog- 
geries and whiskey shops of Dayt^on. And as he (Mr. 
Garfield) would not say that, he did not think that his 
colleague was entitled to say the other. 

" Mr. McMahon stated that he was tolerably familiar 
with his colleague's public career, and he asked his col- 
league whether in all the discussions that had taken place 
in this country on the financial question his colleague 
could show one vote of his that was not based upon the 
idea of speedy resumption, no matter at what cost, even 
when his colleague's own party had separated from him 
on that point in the forty-third Congress ? 

'' Mr. G.irficld replied that, according to hi*, own 
notions of proper legislative praise, his colleague could 



HIS FINANCIAL RECORD. 335 

not counterpraise him any more than in stating that he 
(Mr. Garfield) had always cast his vote in favor of the 
resumption of specie payment. If he ever had east a 
vote which was not against all schemes to delay that un- 
necessarily, or to prevent it, then he had cast a vote of 
which his conscience and his judgment disapproved. 
[Applause on the Republican side.] He had cast as 
many votes as any member on the floor against Wall 
Street and against the business of gold gambling, which 
had been destroyed by resumption — gold gambling that 
had locked up $10,000,000 from the business capital of 
the country for fifteen years, locked it up away from all 
profitable investment and converted Wall Street into a 
faro hell. (Applause.) 

^'Mr. Bright (Dem.), of Tennessee. — Has not Wall 
Street been simply transferred to the Treasury of the 
United States. 

"Mr. Garfield. — I hope that enough of. the gold and 
silver of the country that has been hitherto locked up in 
Wall Street for gold gambling purposes has. been trans- 
ferred to the Treasury of the United States to break 
down the bulls and bears of Wall Street permanently and 
to maintain honest money in the country. (Applause.) 

" Mr. McMahon inquired, if it was wrong to order the 
|10,000,000 to be reissued, when under the law they 
should be paid out in redemption of fractional currency. 

" Mr. Garfield replied that if his colleague would in- 
quire and find out how much of that $10,000,000 could 
DC spared, leaving enough to meet all the obligations of 
the reserve, he would be willing to vote that surplus for 
the purpose of paying arrears of pensions." 



CHAPTER IX. 

the credit mobilier and de golyer charges genera!, 

Garfield's triumphant vindication. 

History of tlie Credit Mobilier Scheme — The Pacific Railway — Government 
Aid extended to H. Oakes Ames' Connection with the Road — Congress 
Investigates the Credit Mobilier — General Garfield's sworn Testimony 
before the Committee — He denies all Improper Connection with the 
Scheme — Publishes a Review of the Case — An Exhaustive Discussion 
of the Case — Testimony in the Matter— General Garfield's Response to 
the Charges of 1872— Mr. Ames' Testimony Analyzed — Mr. Ames' 
Memoranda — The Check on the Sergeant-at-Arms — General Garfield's In- 
terviews with Mr. Ames during the Investigation — Conclusions — Trium- 
phant Vindication of General Garfield — All the Charges against him— 
Letter of Judge Poland — General Garfield Unanimously Acquitted »f 
Wrong-doing — The De Golyer Pavement Company — Charges against 
General Garfield— His Triumphant Vindication of hia Course— The 
Truth established at last. 

It could hardly be expected that one who had taken such 
an active and prominent part in our public affairs should 
escape the attacks of slander. General Garfield has ex- 
perienced the fate of most public men. He has been 
misjudged, and false charges have been brought against 
him. Inasmuch as these charges have been made, it 
seems but just that we should reproduce them here, and 
then present General Garfield's triumphant and masterly 
vindication of liis course. 

It was charged that he was a sharer in the unjust 



CKEDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 337 

profits of the Credit MoUlier ring in Congress. To un- 
derstand this question thoroughly it will be necessary to 
relate the history of that iniquitous scheme. 

One of the great public works of the Union, of which 
the whole country is justly proud, is the Pacific Rail- 
road, extending from the Missouri River to the Pacific 
Ocean. The early history of the great road is a story 
of constant struggles and disappointments. It seemed to 
the soundest capitalists a mere piece of fool-hardiness to 
undertake to build a railroad across the continent and 
over the Rocky Mountains, and, although Government 
aid was liberally pledged to the undertaking, it did 
not, for a long time, attract to it the capital it needed. 
At length, after many struggles, the doubt which had 
attended the enterprise was ended. Capital was found, 
and with it men ready to carry on the work. In Sep- 
tember, 1864, a contract was entered into between the 
Union Pacific Company and H. W. Hoxie, for the build- 
ing by said Hoxie of one hundred miles of the road from 
Omaha west. Mr. Hoxie at once assigned this contract 
to a company, as had been the understanding from the 
first. This company, then comparatively unknown, but 
since very famous, was known as the Credit Mobilier of 
America. The company had bought up an old charter 
that had been granted by the Legislature of Pennsylvania 
to another company in that State, but which had not 
been used by them. 

" In 1865 or 1866, Oakes Ames, then a member of 
Congress from the State of Massachusetts, and his 
brother Oliver Ames, became interested in the Union 
Pacific Company, and also in the Credit Mobilier Cora- 

22 



338 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

pany, as the agent for the construction of the road. The 
Messrs. Ames were men of very large capital, and of 
kn<uvn character and integrity in business. By their ex- 
ample and credit and the personal efforts of Mr. Oakes 
Ames, many men of capital were induced to embark in 
the enterprise, and to take stock in the Union Pacific 
Company, and also in the Credit Mobilier Company. 
Among them were the firm of S. Hooper & Co., of Boston, 
the leading member of which (Mr. Samuel Hooper) was 
then and is now a member of the House ; Mr. John B. 
Alley, then a member of the House from Massachusetts, 
and Mr. Grimes, then a senator from the State of Iowa. 
Notwithstanding the vigorous efforts of Mr. Ames and 
others interested with him, great difficulty was expe- 
rienced in securing the required capital. 

"In the spring of 1867, the Credit Mobilier Company 
voted to add fifty per cent, to their capital stock, which 
was then $2,500,000 ; and to cause it to be readily taken, 
each subscriber to it was entitled to receive as a bonus 
an equal amount of first mortgage bonds of the Union 
Pacific Company. The old stockholders were entitled to 
take this increase, but even the favorable terms offered 
did not induce all the old stockholders to take it, and 
the stock of the Credit Mobilier Company was never 
considered worth its par value until after the execution 
of the Oakes Ames contract hereinafter mentioned. On 
the 16th day of August, 1867, a contract was executed 
between the Union Pacific Railroad and Oakes Ames, 
by which Mr. Ames contracted to build 667 miles of 
the Union Pacific Road at prices ranging from $42,000 
to $96,000 per mile, amounting in the aggregate to 



CREDIT MOBILIER — TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 339 

$47,000,000. Before the contract was entered into, it 
was understood that Mr. Ames was to transfer it to seven 
trustees who were to execute it, and the. profits of the 
contract were to be divided among the stockholders in 
the Credit Mobilier Company, who shouhl comply with 
certain conditions set out in the instrument transferring 
the contract to the trustees. Subsequently, all the stock- 
holders of the Credit Mobilier Company complied with 
the conditions named in the transfer, and thus became 
entitled to share in any profits said trustees might make 
in executing the contract. All the large stockholders in 
the Union Pacific were also stockholders in the Credit 
Mobilier, and the Ames contract and its transfer to 
trustees were ratified by the Union Pacific and received 
the assent of the great body of stockholders, but not 
of all. After the Ames contract had been executed, it 
was expected by those interested that, by reason of the 
enormous prices agreed to be paid for the work, very 
large profits would be derived from building the r^ad, 
and very soon the stock of the Credit Mobilier was un- 
derstood to be worth much more than its par value. 
The stock was not in the market, and had no fixed 
market value, but the holders of it, in December, 1867, 
considered it worth at least double the par value, and in 
January or February, 1868, three or four times the par 
value; but it does not appear that these facts were 
generally or publicly known, or that the holders of the 
stock desired they should be." 

As will be seen from the above statement, the stock- 
holders of the Credit Mobilier were also stockholders in 
the Union Pacific Company. 



340 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

Like all great corporations of the present day, the 
Union Pacific Road was largely dependent upon the aid 
furnished by the Government for its success. The man- 
agers of the company, being shrewd men, succeeded in 
placing all the burdens and risks of the enterprise upon 
the General Government, while they secured to them- 
selves all the profits to be derived from the undertaking.* 
* The Railroad Company was endowed by Act of Con- 
gress with twenty alternate sections of land per mile, 
and had Government-loans of $16,000 per mile for about 
200 miles ; thence $32,000 per mile through the Alkali 
Desert, about 600 miles, and thence in the Rocky Moun- 
tains $48,000 per mile. The railroad company issued 
stock to the extent of about $10,000,000. This stock 
was received by stockholders on their payment of five 
per cent, of its face. When the Credit Mobilier came on 
the scene, all the assets of the Union Pacific were turned 
over to the new company in consideration of full paid 
shares of the new company's stock and its agreement to 
build the road. The Government, meanwhile, had al- 
lowed its claim for its loan of bonds to become a second 
instead of a first mortgage, and permitted the Union 
Pacific Road to issue first mortgage bonds, which took 
precedence as a lien on the road. The Government lien 
thus became almost worthless, as the new mortgage, 
which took precedence, amounted to all the value of the 
road. The proceeds of this extraordinary transaction 
went to swell the profits of the Credit Mobilier, which 
had nothing to pay out except for the mere cost of con- 
struction. This also explains why some of the dividends 
of the latter company were paid in Union Pacific bonds 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION, 341 

A-s a result of these processes, the bonded debts of the 
railroad exceeded its cost by at least $40,000,000." 

Mr. Ames was deeply interested in the scheme, be- 
ing, indeed, one of its principal managers. Being a mem- 
ber of Congress, he was peculiarly prepared to appre- 
ciate the value of Congressional assistance in behalf of 
the Credit Mobilier. It would seem that the object of 
the C];i'^dit Mobilier was to drain money from the Pacific 
road, and consequently from the Government, as long as 
possible. Any legislation on the part of Congress de- 
signed to protect the interests of the Government, would, 
as a matter of course, be unfavorable to the Credit Mo- 
bilier, and it was the aim of that corporation to prevent 
all such legislation. The price agreed upon for building 
the road was so exorbitant, and afforded such an iniqui- 
tous profit to the Credit Mobilier, that it was very cer- 
tain that some honest friend of the people would demand 
that Congress should protect the Treasury against such 
spoliation. It was accordingly determined to interest in 
the scheme enough members of Congress to prevent any 
protection of the national treasury at the expense of the 
unlawful gains of the Credit Mobilier. Mr. Oakes Ames, 
being in Congress, undertook to secure the desired hold 
upon his associates. The plan was simply to secure them 
by bribing them, and for this purpose a certain portion 
of the Credit Mobilier stock was placed in the hands of 
Mr. Ames, as trustee, to be used by him as he thought 
best for the interests of the company. 

Provided with this stock, Mr. Ames went to Wash- 
ington, in December, 1867, at the opening of the session 
of Congress. "During that month," say the Poland 



342 JAMES A. GARIIELD. 

Committee in their report, " Mr. Ames entered into con- 
tracts with a considerable number of members of Con- 
gress, both senators and representatives, to let them 
have shares of stock in the Credit Mobilier Company at 
par, with interest thereon from the first day of the pre- 
vious July. It does not appear that in any instance he 
asked any of these persons to pay a higher price than the 
par value and interest, nor that Mr. Ames used any spe- 
cial effort or urgency to get these persons to take it. In 
all these negotiations Mr. Ames did not enter into any de- 
tails as to the value of the stock, or the amount of divi- 
dend that might be expected upon it, but stated generally 
that it would be good stock, and in several instances said 
he would guarantee that they should get at least ten per 
cent, on their money. Some of these gentlemen, in their 
conversations with Mr. Ames, raised the question whether 
becoming holders of this stock would briug them into any 
embarrassment as members of Congress in their legisla- 
tive action. Mr. Ames quieted such suggestions by say- 
ing it could not, for the Union Pacific had received from 
Congress all the grants and legislation it wanted, and they 
should ask for nothing more. In some instances those 
members who contracted for stock paid to Mr. Ames the 
money for the price of the stock, par and interest; in 
others, where they had not the money, Mr. Ames agreed 
to ' carry ' the stock for them until they could get the 
money, or it should be met by the dividends. Mr. 
Ames was^ at this time a large stockholder in the Credit 
Mobilier, but he did not intend any of those transactions 
to be sales of his own stock, but intended to fulfil all 
these contracts from stock belonging to the company." 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 343 

*'It is very easy," says the New York Tribune, "to 
Kee that under these circumstances the stock of the Credit 
Mobilier was a very handsome investment, provided it 
could be purchased at par. Here was wherein Oakes 
Ames was such a profitable friend to Congressmen and 
senators. He let them in, as he phrases it, on the 
ground floor. They got their stock at par, and the divi- 
dends which were ready to be paid were more than 
enough to pay for the stock. This is what is called in 
Wall Street parlance making one hand wash the other. 
The actual value of the stock thus sold at $100 a share 
would have been to anybody out of the circle of Oakes 
Ames' friends not purchasable for less than $300 or 
$400. But there was a film of decency thrown over the 
transactions by Mr. Ames, in charging several months' 
interest upon the stock at the time it was sold to the 
members of Congress. This interest had accrued while 
he was holding it to see where it could be placed to the 
best advantage." 

The motive of Mr. Ames in thus " placing," as he 
termed it, this immensely profitable stock among the 
members of Congress, is thus stated by the Poland Com- 
mittee : 

" In relation to the purpose and motive of Mr. Ames 
in contracting to let members of Congress have Credit^ 
Mobilier stock at par, which he and all other owners 
of it considered worth at least double that sum, the 
committee, upon the evidence taken by them and sub- 
mitted to the House, cannot entertain a doubt. When 
he said he did not suppose the Union Pacific Company 
would ask or need further legishition, ' he stated \\ hat 



344 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

he believed to be trae, but he feared the interests of the 
road might sutler by adverse legislation, and what he 
desired to accomplf'sh was to enlist strength and friends 
'in Congress who would resist any encroachment upon 
or interference with the rights and privileges already 
secured, and to that end wished to create .in them an 
interest identical with his own. This purpose is clearly 
avowed in his letters to McComb, copied in the evi- 
dence, where he says he intends to place the stock 
' where it will do the most good to us,' and again, ' We 
want more friends in this Congress.' In his letter to 
McCouib, and also in his statement prepared by coun- 
sel, he gives the philosophy of his action, to wit : That 
he has found there is no difficulty in getting men to 
look after their own property. The committee are also 
satisfied that Mr. Ames entertained a fear that when 
the true relations between the Credit Mobilier Com- 
pany and the Union Pacific became generally known, 
and the means by which the great profits expected to 
be made were fully understood, there was danger that 
Congressional investigation and action would be in- 
voked. The members of Congress with whom he dealt 
were generally those who had been friendly and favor- 
able to a Pacific raih-oad, and Mr. Ames did not fear or 
expect to find them favorable to movements hostile to 
it, but he desired to stimulate their activity and watch- 
fulness in opposition to any unfavorable action, by giv- 
ing them a personal interest in the success of the enter- 
piiBC, especially so far as it affected the interest of the 
Credit Mobilier Company. 

" On the 9th day of December, 1867, Mr. C. C. 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 345 

Washburn, of Wisconsin, introduced in the House a 
bill to regulate by law the rates of transportation over 
the Pacific railroads. Mr. Ames, as well as others 
interested in the Union Pacific Road, were opposed to 
this, and desired to defeat it. Other measui'es ap- 
parently hostile to that company were subsequently 
introduced into the House, by Mr. Washburn, of Wis- 
consin, and Mr. Washburn, of Illinois. The committee 
believe that Mr. Ames, in his distribution of the stock 
had specially in mind the hostile efforts of the Messrs. 
Washburn, and desired to gain strength to secure their 
defeat. The reference in one of his letters, to Wash- 
burn's move makes this quite apparent." 

" The more recent legislation," says the New York 
Tribune, "which 'Ames' transactions with members of 
Congress had reference to, may be stated in a few 
words. Secretary Boutwell insisted that half the earn- 
ings of the road in carrying mails and troops for the 
Government should be applied to the payment of in- 
terest on the loans that the Government had made to 
the road. The legislation obtained overruled the Sec- 
retary and enabled the road to postpone payment of 
interest until the bonds fell due — some thirty years 
hence. To sum up, it m;iy be briefly stated that the 
Uuion Pacific and Credit Mobilier together got the pro- 
ceeds of liberal United States land grants, of donations 
of communities near the road, and the entire subsidy 
of Government bonds, as a clear profit. The proceeds 
of the mortgage bonds which displaced the Government 
lien, were sufficient to have built the road. To the 
original stockholders in the Union Pacific, the profit 



346 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

was something almost incredible. A share bought for 
$5 subscription became $100 Credit Mobilier, which 
paid, as we have seen in the evidence concerning the 
legislators who received it, dividends that amounted 
to at least treble its nominal value. It is, of course, 
evident that all legislation which favored the Union 
Pacific Railroad swelled the profits of the legislators 
who became stockholders in the Credit Mobilier. The 
awkwardness of this position was vastly increased by 
the thin disguise of purchase being torn away, under 
which the profit-bearing stock had been really the gift 
of Oakes Ames. The denial of the facts converted the 
transaction into a criminal act." 

Reduced to plain English, the story of the Credit 
Mobilier is simply this : The men entrusted with the 
management of the Pacific Road made a bargain with 
themselves to build the road for a sum equal to about 
twice its actual cost, and pocketed the profits, which 
have been estimated at about Thirty Millions of Dol- 
lars — this immense sum coming out of the pockets of 
the taxpayers of the United States. This contract was 
made in October, 1867. 

" On June 17, 1868, the stockholders of the Credit 
Mobilier received 60 per cent, in cash, and 40 per cent, 
in stock of the Union Pacific Railroad; on the 2d <\ 
July, lb68, 80 per cent, first mortgage bonds of the 
Union Pacific Railroad, and 100 per cent, stock ; July 
3, 1868, 75 per cent, stock, and 75 per cent, first mort- 
gage bonds; September 3, 1868, 100 per cent, stock, 
and 75 per cent, first mortgage bonds ; December 19, 
1868, 200 per cent, stock ; while, before this contract 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 347 

was made, the stockholders had received, on the 26th 
of April, 1866, a dividend of 100 per cent, in stock 
of the Union Pacific Railroad; on the 1st of April, 
1867, 50 per cent, of first mortgage bonds were dis- 
tributed; on the 1st of July, 1867, 100 per cent, in 

stock again." 

After offering this statement, it is hardly necessary 
to add that the vast property of the Pacific Road, which 
should have been used to meet its engagements, was soon 
swallowed up by the Credit Mobilier. 

This is the story of the Credit Mobilier, as far as the 
facts have been permitted to become known. We shall 
now see how it came to make such a noise in the world. 

Mr. Ames was not the only member of the company 
engaged in ''placing" the stock where it would benefit 
the corporation. Dr. Durant, the President of the Pacific 
Railway, was engaged io securing his friends in the same 
way, and he received a portion of the stock to be used in 
this manner. Mr. Henry S. McComb, of Delaware, who 
was also interested in the scheme, now put in his claim 
for a part of the stock, which was being used as a cor- 
ruption fund, " for his friends." His claim involved him 
in a quarrel with Oakes Ames, and Colonel McComb had 
the mortification of seeing the stock he claimed assigned 
to Mr. Ames, for the use of his friends. 

In the summer of 1872, in the midst of the Presiden- 
tial campaign, the quarrel between Ames and McComb 
reached such a point, that it was impossible to keep it 
quiet. McComb made public the facts in the case, and 
published a list of the Congressmen with whom Ames 
had said he had •' placed " ihe bLock, miming the number 



348 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

of shares sold to each. These were : — Schuyler Colfax, 
Vice-President of the United States ; Henry Wilson, Sen- 
ator from Massachusetts ; James W. Patterson, Senator 
from New Hampshire ; John A. Logan, Senator from 
Illinois; James G. Blaine, Member of Congress from 
Maine, and Speaker of the House of Representatives; 
W. D. Kelley, of Pennsylvania; James A. Grarfield, of 
Ohio ; James Brooks, of New York ; John A. Bingham, 
of Ohio ; Henry L. Dawes, of Massachusetts ; G.lenni W. 
Scofield, of Pennsylvania, and one or two others, who 
were not at the time of the exposure members of Con- 
gress. 

As may be supposed, the publication of the charges, 
and the list of names, created a storm of excitement 
throughout the country. The members implicated, as a 
rule, indignantly denied the charge of having purchased 
or owned Credit Mobilier stock. They declared them- 
selves incapable of holding such stock, as it would have 
been, they said, a high crime against morality and de- 
cency to be connected in any way with the Credit Mo- 
bilier. These denials were generally accepted. The per- 
sons making them had always borne high characters foi 
veracity and integrity. Partisan orators and newspapers 
made the most of the charges, and made them so odious 
that the persons implicated repeated their denials with 
more earnestness. 

When Congress assembled, in December, 1872, Mr. 
Blaine, the Speaker of the House, wishing to vindicate 
his character, which he declared had been unjustly as- 
sailed, asked the House of Representatives to appoint a 
jjommittee to inquire into the charges of Ames and 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 349 

McComb, and to report the result of their investigations. 
The committee was appointed, with Mr. Poland, of Ver. 
mont, as its chairman. An effort was made to conduct 
the investigation in secret ; but the indignant public de- 
manded and obtained an open trial. On the 18th of 
February, 1873, the committee reported to the House 
the result of its investigation. ' 

General Garfield w^as one of those charged with par- 
ticipating in the corrupt profits of the Credit Mobilier. 
He made public an emphatic denial of the charge, and 
cordially aided in the effort to have the charges investi- 
gated and the truth brought to light. Feeling that he 
had nothing to conceal, he was anxious that the most 
searching inquiry should be made into the matter. On 
the 14th of January, 1873, he appeared before the in- 
vestigating committee, and testified as follows, under 
oath : 

" The first I ever heard of the Credit Mobilier was 
sometime in 1*866 or 1867 — I cannot fix the date — when 
George Francis Train called on me and said he was or- 
ganizing a company to be known as the Credit Mobilier 
of America, to be formed on the model of the Credit 
Mobilier of France ; that the object of the company was 
to purchase lands and build houses along the line of the 
Pacific Railroad at points where cities and villages were 
likely to spring up ; that he had no doubt that money 
thus invested would double or treble itself each year ; 
that subscriptions were limited to $1,000 each, and he 
wished me to subscribe. He showed me a long list of 
subscribers, among them Mr. Oakes Ames, to whom he 
referred me for further information concerning the enter- 



850 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

prise. I answered that I had not the money to spare, 
and if I had I would not subscribe without knowing more 
about the proposed ( rganization. Mr. Train left me, 
saying he would holu a place open for me, and hoped I 
would conclude to subscribe. The same day I asked Mr- 
Ames what he thought of the enterprise. He expressed 
the opinion that the investment would be safe and profit- 
able. 

" I heard nothing further on the subject for a year or 
more, and it wns almost forgotten, when sometime, I 
'should say during the long session of 1868, Mr. Ames 
spoke of it again, said the company had organized, was 
doing well, and, he thought, would soon pay large divi- 
dends. He said that some of the stock was left, or was 
to be left, in his hands .to sell, and I could take the 
amount which Mr. Train had offered me by paying the 
$1,000 and accrued interest. He said if I was not able 
to pay for it he would hold it for me until I could pay or 
until some of the dividends were payable. I told him I 
would consider the matter, but would not agree to take 
any stock until I knew, from an examination of the char- 
ter and the conditions of the subscription, the extent to 
which I would become pecuniarily liable. He said he was 
not sure, but thought a stockholder would only be liable 
for the par value of his stock ; that he had not the stock 
and papers with him, but would have them after awhile. 
From the case as presented I should probably have taken 
the stock if 1 had been satisfied in regard to the extent 
of pecuniary liability. Thus the matter rested, I think, 
until the following year. During that interval I under- 
stood that there were dividends due amounting to nearly 



CREDIT MOBILIER— TRIUxMPHANT VINDICATION. 351 

three times the par value of the stock. But in the mean- 
time I had heard that the company was involved in some 
controversy with the Pacific Railroad and that Mr. Ames' 
right to sell the stock was denied. When I next saw 
Mr. Ames I told him I had concluded not to take the 
stock. There the matter ended, so far as I was con- 
cerned, and I haa no further knowledge of the company's 
operations until the subject began to be discussed in the 
newspapers last fall (1872). Nothing was ever said to 
me by Mr. Train or Mr. Ames to indicate or imply that 
the Credit Mobilier was or could be in any way con- 
nected with the legislation of Congress for the Pacific 
R.'dlroad or any other purpose. Mr. Ames never gave 
nor offered to give me any stock or other valuable thing 
as a gift. I once asked and obtained from him, and 
afterwards repaid to him, a loan of $300 ; that amount is 
the only valuable thing I ever received from or delivered 
to him. I never owned, received, or agreed to receive 
any stock of the Credit Mobilier or of the Union Pacific 
Railroad, nor any dividends or profits arising from either 
of them." 

Not content with denying the charges against him 
under oath. General Garfield, on the 3d of March, 1873, 
gave notice in the House that he should publish a review 
of the matter, and a full vindication of his course. 

In May, 1873, he published the following review. 
We reproduce it entire, notwithstanding its length, as it 
is of the greatest importance to those who would know 
the true history of the case. The old charges will be 
revived and used during the Presidential campaign by 
partisan enemies of the Republican candidate, and it is 



352 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

only right that every friend of General Garfield should 

have his masterly and unanswerable vindication at hand. 

The review was prefaced with the following note : 

^' Since this review was written, the telegraph has 
announced the death of Mr. Ames. This circumstance 
may raise a question as to the propriety of publishing 
this paper ; but I gave notice in the House of Repre- 
sentatives, on the 3d of March last, that I should pub- 
lish such a review, and I then indicated its scope and 
character. Furthermore, justice to the living Ciinnot 
wrong the memory of the dead. 

" In revising these pages, as they are passing through 
the press, I am glad to find no expressions, prompted by 
a spirit of bitterness, which the presence of death re- 
quires me to erase. 

"J. A. Garfield." 
"Washington, D. C, May 8, 1873." 



REVIEW OF THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE 
CREDIT MOBILIER COMPANY, 

And an Examination of that Portion of the Testimony 
taken by the Committee of Investigation and reported to 
the House of Representatives at the last session of the 
forty-second Congress, which relates to Mr. Garfield. 

The events of the late winter recall forcibly a decla- 
ration made more than twenty-two centuries ago, by a 
man who possessed a profound knowledge of human na- 
ture and society. In answering a grave charge made 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 353 

against his public conduct, he said he did not stand on 
equal ground with his accusers, for the reason that 
people listen to accusation more readily than to defence. 
This remark has sometimes been thought cynical and 
unjust; but there is much in our recent history that 
gives it force. 

In no period of the political life of this country has 
the appetite for scandal been keener, or its exercise less 
restrained, than during the last year. One of our most 
brilliant and influential journalists, in an address deliv- 
ered a few days since to a convention of his professional 
brethren in Indiana, while speaking of the present tone 
of the press, used this emphatic language : 

The law presumes a man to be innocent until he is proved 
guilty. 

The press, not merely usurping thp functions of the law in ar- 
raie-nin^y a man whom the constable has no warrant to arrest, goes 
still farther, and assumes him, prima facie, to be guilty. After 
many weeks, if the case of the accused comes to trial, he is ac- 
quitted ; the law makes him an honest man ; but there is the 
newspaper which has condemned him, and cannot, with a dozen 
retractions, erase the impression left and the damage done by a 
single paragraph. 

It might not be becoming in a layman, who feels in 
his own case the force of this paragraph, to volunteer 
such a declaration ; but it is quite proper for him to tes- 
tify to its truth when thus forcibly stated. 

This paragraph from the address of the journalist 
finds a striking illustration in the history of the subject 
now under review. 

In the autumn of 1872, during the excitement of 
the Presidential campaign, charges of the most serious 

23 



354 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

character were made against ten or twelve persons who 
were then, or had recently been, senators and represen- 
tatives in Congress, to the effect that, five years ago, 
they had sold themselves for sundry amounts of stock 
of the Credit Mobilier Company and bonds of the Pacific 
"Railroad Company. The price at which different mem- 
bers were alleged to have bartered away their personal 
honor and th6ir official influence was definitely set down 
in the newspapers ; their guilt was assumed, and the 
public vengeance was invoked not only upon them, but 
also upon the party to which most of them belonged. 

CREDIT MOBILIER INVESTIGATION. 

By a resolution of the House, introduced by one of 
the accused members, and adopted on the first day of the 
late session, an investigation of these charges was or- 
dered. The parties themselves and many other wit- 
nesses were examined ; the records of the Credit Mobi- 
lier Company and of the Pacific Railroad Company were 
produced ; and the results of the investigation were 
reported to the House on the 18th of February. The 
report, with the accompanying testimony, was brought 
up in the House for consideration on the 25th of Feb- 
ruary, and the discussion was continued until the sub- 
ject was finally disposed of, three days before the close 
of the session. The- investigation was scarcely begun 
before it was manifest that the original charge, that stock 
was given to members as a consideration for their votes, 
was wholly abandoned, there being no proof whatever to 
support it. 

But the charge assumed a new form, namely : That 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 355 

the stock had been sold to members, at a price known to 
be greatly below its actual value, for the purpose of se- 
curing their legislative influence in favor of those who 
were managing and manipulating the Pacific Railroad 
for their own private advantage and to the injury both 
of the trust and of the United States. Eight of those 
against whom charges had been made in the public 
press, myself among the number, were still members of 
the House of Representatives, and were specially men- 
tioned in the report. The committee recommended tho 
adoption of resolutions for the expulsion of Messrs. 
Ames and Brooks, the latter on charges in no way con- 
nected with Mr. Ames or the other members mentioned. 
They recommended the expulsion of Mr. Ames for an 
attempt to influence the votes and decisions of mem- 
bers of Congress by interesting them in the stock of 
the Credit Mobilier, and through it in the stock of the 
Union Pacific Railroad. They found that though Mr. 
Ames in no case disclosed his purpose to these mem- 
bers, yet he hoped so to enhst their interest that they 
would be inclined to favor any legislation in aid of the 
Pacific Railroad and its interests, and that he declared 
to the managers of the Credit Mobilier Company at the 
time that he was thus using the stock which had been 
placed in his hands by the company. 

Concerning the members to whom he had sold, or 
offered to sell, the stock, the committee say that they 
" do not find that Mr. Ames, in his negotiations with 
the persons above named, entered into any detail of the 
relations between the Credit Mobilier Company and the 
Union Pacific Company, or gave them any specific in- 



356 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

formation as to the amount of dividends they would be 
likely to receive farther than has been already stated, 
[viz., that in some cases he had guaranteed a profit of 
ten per cent.] . . . They do not find as to the members 
of the present House above named, that they were aware 
of the object of Mr. Ames, or that they had any other 
purpose in taking this stock than to make a profitable 
investment. . . . They have not been able to find that 
any of these members of Congress have been affected in 
their official action in consequence of interest in the 
Credit Mobilier stock. . . . They do not find that either 
of the above-named gentlemen in contracting with Mr. 
Ames had any corrupt motive or purpose himself or was 
aware Mr. Ames had any. Nor did either of them 
suppose he was guilty of any impropriety or even in- 
delicacy in becoming a purchaser of this stock." And 
finally, that " the committee find nothing in the con- 
duct or motives of either of these members in taking 
this stock, that calls for any recommendation by the 
committee of the House." (See pp. viii. ix. x.) 

In the case of each of the six members just referred 
to, the committee sum up the results of the testimony, 
and from that summary the conclusions above quoted 
are drawn. In regard to me, the committee find : That, 
in December, 1867, or January, 1868, I agreed to pur- 
chase ten shares of Credit Mobilier stock of Mr. Ames, 
for $1,000, and the accrued interest from the previous 
July; that in June, 1868, Mr. Ames paid rne a check 
on the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House for $329, as a 
balance of dividends on the stock, above the purchase- 
price and accrued interest; and that thereafter, there 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 357 

vrere no payments or other transactions between us, or 
any communication on the subject until the investigation 
began in December last. (See Report, p. vii.) 

I took the first opportunity olTered by the completion 
of public business to call the attention of the House to 
the above summary of the testimony in reference to me. 
On the 3d of March I made the following remarks, in 
the House of Representatives, as recorded in the Con- 
gressional Glohe for that day : 

Mr. Garfield, of Ohio. — I rise to a personal explanation. Dur- 
ing the late investigation by the committee of which the gentle- 
man from Vermont (Mr. Poland) was the chairman, I pursued 
what seemed to be the plain path of duty, to keep silence except 
when I was called upon to testify before the committee. When 
testimony was given which appeared to be in conflict with mine, I 
waited, expecting to be called again if anything was needed from 
me in reference to these discrepancies. I was not recalled ; and 
when the committee submitted their report to the House, a con- 
siderable portion of the testimony relating to me had not been 
printed. 

In the discussion which followed here I was prepared to sub- 
mit some additional facts and considerations in case my own con- 
duct came up for consideration in the House ; but the whole sub- 
ject was concluded without any direct reference to myself, and 
since then the whole time of the House has been occupied witli 
the public business. I now desire to make a single remark on 
this subject in the hearing of the House. Though the committee 
acquitted me of all charges of corruption in action or intent, yet 
there is in the report a summing up of the facts in relation to me 
which I respectfully protest is not warranted by the testimony. I 
Bay this with the utmost respect for the committee, and without 
intending any reflection upon them. 

I cannot now enter upon the discussion ; but I propose, before 
long, to make a statement to the public, setting forth more fully 
the grounds of my dissent foom the summing up to which I have 



358 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

referred. I will only say now that the testimony which I gave 
before the committee is a statement of the facts in the case as I 
have understood them from the beginning. More than three 
years ago, on at least two occasions, I stated the case to two per- 
sonal friends substantially as I stated it before the committee, and 
I here add that nothing in my conduct or conversation has at any 
time been in conflict with my testimony. For the present I de- 
sire only to place on record tliis declaration and notice. * 

In pursuance of this notice, I shall consider so much 
of the history of the Credit Mobilier Company as has 
any relation to myself. To render the discussion intel- 
ligible, I will first state briefly the offences which that 
corporation committed, as found by the committees of the 
House. 

HISTOEY OF THE CREDIT MOBILIER COMPANY. 

The Credit Mobilier Company is a corporation organ- 
ized under the laws of the State of Pennsylvania, and 
authorized by its charter to purchase and sell various 
kinds of securities and to make advances of money and 
credit to railroad and other improvement companies. Its 
charter describes a class of business which, if honestly 
conducted, any citizen may properly engage in. 

On the 16th of August, 1867, Mr. Oakes Ames 
made a contract with the Union Pacific Railroad Com- 
pany to build six hundred and sixty-seven miles of road, 
from the one hundredth meridian westward, at rates rang- 
ing from $42,000 to $96,000 per mile. For executing this 
contract he was to receive in the aggregate $47,925,000, 
in cash or in the securities of the company. 

On the 15th of October, a triple contract was made 
between Mr. Ames of the first partj seven persons aa 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 359 

trustees of the second part, and the Credit Mobilier Com- 
pany of the third part, by the terms of which the Credit 
Mobiher Company was to advance money to build the 
road, and to receive thereon seven per cent, interest and 
two and a half per cent, commission ; the seven trustees 
were to execute the Ames contract, and the profits there- 
on were to be divided among them, and such other stock- 
holders of the Credit Mobilier Company as should deliver 
to them an irrevocable proxy to vote the stock of the 
Union Pacific held by them. The principal stockholders 
of the Credit Mobilier Company were also holders of a 
majority of the stock of the Union Pacific Railroad. 

On the face of this agreement, the part to be per- 
formed by the Credit Mobilier Company as a corporation 
was simple and unobjectionable. It was to advance 
money to the contractors and to receive therefor about 
ten per cent, as interest and commission. This explains 
how it was that in a suit in the courts of Pennsylvania 
in 1870, to collect the State tax on the profits of the 
corapan}^, its managers swore that the company had never 
declared dividends to an aggregate of more than twelve 
present. The company proper did not receive the profits 
of the Oakes Ames contract. The profits were paid only 
to the seven trustees and to such stockholders of the 
Credit Mobilier as had delivered to them the proxies on 
their Pacific Railroad stock. In other words, a ring in- 
side the Credit Mobilier obtained the control both of that 
corporation and of the profits of the Ames contract. 

By a private agreement made in writing October 16, 
1867, the day after the triple contract was signed, the 
seven trustees pledged themselves to each other so to 



3u0 JAMES A. GARFI-ELD. 

vole all the Pacific Railroad stock which they held in 
their own right or by proxy, as to keep in power all the 
members of the then existing board of directors of the 
railroad company not appointed by the President of the 
United States, or such other persons as said board should 
nominate. By this agreement, the election of a majority 
of the directors was wholly within the power of the seven 
trustees. From all this it resulted that the Ames con- 
tract and the triple agreement made in October amounted 
in fact to a contract made by seven leading stockholders 
of the Pacific Railroad Company with themselves ; so 
that the men who fixed the price at which the road was 
to be built were the same men who would receive the 
profits of the contract. 

The wrong in this transaction consisted, first in the 
fact that the stockholding directors of the Pacific Rail- 
road, being the guardians of a great public trust, con- 
tracted with themselves ; and, second, that they paid 
themselves an exorbitant price for the work to be done, a 
price which virtually brought into their own possession, 
as private individuals, almost all tlie property of the rail- 
road company. The six hundred and sixty-seven miles 
covered by the contract included one hundred and thirty- 
eight miles already completed, the profits on which inured 
to the benefit of the contractors. (See Report of Credit 
Mobilier Committee, No. 2, p. xiii.) 

The Credit Mobilier Company had already been en- 
gaged in various enterprises before the connection with 
the Ames contract. George Francis Train had once been 
the principal owner of its franchises, and it had owned 
some western lands (Wilson's Report, pp. 497, 8) ; but 



CREDIT MOBILIER TUIUMPIIANT VINDICATION. 361 

its enterprises had not been very remunerative, and its 
stock had not been worth par. The triple contract of 
October, 1867, gave it at once considerable additional 
value. It should be borne in mind, however, that the 
relations of the Credit Mobilier Company to the seven 
trustees, to the Oakes Ames contract, and to the Pacific 
Railroad Company, were known to but few persons until 
long afterward, and that it was for the interest of the 
parties to keep them secret. Indeed, nothing was known 
of it to the general public until the facts were brought 
out in the recent investigations. 

In view of the facts above stated, it is evident that a 
purchaser of such shares of Credit Mobilier stock as were 
brought under the operation of the triple contract would 
be a sharer in the profits derived by that arrangement 
from the assets of the Pacific Railroad, a large part of 
which consisted of bonds and lands granted to the road 
by the United States. The holding of such stock by a 
member of Congress would depend for its moral qualities 
wholly upon the fact whether he did or did not know 
of the arrangement out of which the profits would come. 
If he knew of the fraudulent arrangement by which the 
bonds and lands of the United States delivered to the 
Union Pacific Railroad Company for the purpose of con- 
structing its road were to be paid out at enormously 
extravagant rates, and the proceeds to be paid out as 
dividends to a ring of stockholders made the Credit Mo- 
bilier Conjpany, he could not with any propriety hold 
such stock, or agree to hold it, or any of its proceeds. 
And for a meaiber of Congress, knowing the facts, to hold 
andor adnsemeut a proposition to buy this stock woid^ 



362 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

be morally as wrong as to hold it and receive the profits 
upon it. If it was morally wrong to purchase it, it was 
morally wrong to hesitate whether to purchase it or not. 

I put the case on the highest ethical ground, and ask 
that this rule be applied in all its severity in judging ol 
my relations on this subject. 

i 
PROPOSITIONS TO BE DISCUSSED. 

The committee found, as already stated, that none ol 
the six members to whom Mr. Ames sold, or proposed to 
sell, the stock, knew of this arrangement. I shall, how- 
ever, discuss the subject only in so far as relates to me, 
and shall undertake to establish three propositions : 

First. That I never purchased nor agreed to pur- 
chase the stock, nor received any of its dividends. 

Second. That though an offer was made, which I 
had some time under advisement, to sell me $1,000 worth 
of the 'stock, I did not then know, nor had I the means of 
knowing, the real conditions with which the stock was 
connected, or the method by which its profits were to bo 
made. 

Third. That my testimony before the committee is a 
statement of the facts as I have always understood them ; 
and that neither before the committee nor elsewhere has 
there been, on my part, any prevarication or evasion on 
the subject. 

MR. GARFIELD'S TESTIMONY 

My testimony was delivered before the investigating 
committee on the 14th of January. That portion which 
precedes the cross-examination, I had written out soon 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 36 



o 



after the committee w<as appointed. I quote from it. 
with the cross-examination, in full, as found recorded on 
pp. 128 to 131: 

Washington, D. C, January 14, 1875. 

J. A. Garfield, a member of the United States House of Eepre- 
sentatives, from the State of Ohio, having been duly sworn, made 
the following statement : 

The first I ever heard of the Credit Mobilier was sometime in 
1866 or 1867 — I cannot fix the date — when George Francis Train 
called on me and said he was organizing a company to be known 
as the Credit Mobilier of America, to be formed on the model of 
the Credit Mobilier of France ; that the object of the company 
was to purchase land and build houses along the line of the Pa- 
cific Railroad at points where cities and villages were likely to 
spring up ; that he had no doubt that money thus invested would 
double or treble itself each year ; that subscriptions were limited 
to 11,000 each, and he wished me to subscribe. He showed me a 
long list of subscribers, among them Mr. Oakes Ames, to whom 
he referred me for further information concerning the enterprise. 
I answered that I had not the money to spare, and if I had I 
would not subscribe without knowing more about the proposed 
organization. Mr. Train left me, saying he would hold a place 
open for me, and hoped I would yet conclude to subscribe. The 
same day I asked Mr. Ames what he thought of the enterprise. 
He expressed the opinion that the investment would be safe and 
profitable. 

I heard nothing further on the subject for a year or more, and 
it was almost forgotten, when sometime, I should say, during the 
long session of 1868, Mr. Ames spoke of it again ; said the com- 
pany had organized, was doing well, and he thought would soon 
pay large dividends. He said that some of the stock had been 
left or was to be left in his hands to sell, and I could take the 
amount which Mr. Train had offered me, by paying the $1,000 
and the accrued interest. He suid if I was not able to pay for it 
then, he would hold it for me till I could pay, or until somepf 
uie dividends were payable. I told him I would consider the 



364 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

matter ; but would not agree to take any stock until I knew, from 
an examination of the character and the conditions of the sub- 
scription, the extent to which I should become pecuniarily liable. 
He said he was not sure, but thought a stockholder would be liable 
only for the par value of his stock ; that he had not the stock and 
papers with him, but would have them after a while. 

From the case, as presented, I should probably have taken the 
stock if I had been satisfied in regard to the extent of pecuniary 
liability. Thus the matter rested for some time, I think until the 
following year. During that interval I understood that there 
were dividends due amounting to nearly three times the par value 
of the stock. But in the meantime I had heard that the com- 
pany was involved in some controversy with the Pacific Kailroad, 
and that Mr. Ames's right to sell the stock was denied. When I 
next saw Mr. Ames I told him I had concluded not to take the 
stock. There the matter ended, so far as I was concerned, and I 
had no further knowledge of the company's operations until the 
subject began to be discussed in the newspapers last fall. 

Nothing was ever said to me by Mr. Train or Mr. Ames to in- 
dicate or imply that the Credit Mobilier was or could be in any 
way connected with the legislation of Congress for the Pacific 
Railroad or for any other purpose. Mr. Ames never gave, nor 
offered to give, me any stock or other valuable thing as a gift. I 
once asked and obtained from him, and afterwards repaid to him, 
a loan of $300 ; that amount is the only valuable thing I ever re- 
ceived from or delivered to him. 

I never owned, received, or agreed to receive any stock of the 
Credit Mobilier or of the Union Pacific Railroad, nor any divi- 
dends or profits arising from either of them. 

By the Chairman : 

Question. Had this loan you speak of any connection in any 
way with your conversation in regard to the Credit Mobilier stock ? 
Answer, No connection in any way except in regard to the time 
of payment. Mr. Ames stated to me that if I concluded to sub- 
scribe for the Credit Mobilier stock, I could allow the loan to re- 



i 



CREDIT MOBILIER — TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 365 

main until the payment on that was adjusted. I never regarded 
it as connected in any other way with the stock enterprise. 

Q. Do you remember the time of that transaction ? A. I do 
not remember it precisely. I should think it was in the session of 
1868. I had been to Europe the fall before and was in debt, and 
borrowed several sums of money at different times and from dif- 
ferent persons. This loan fi'om Mr. Ames was not at his instance. 
I made the request myself. I think I had asked one or two per- 
sons before him for the loan. 

Q. Have you any knowledge in reference to any dealings of 
Mr. Ames with any gentlemen in Congress in reference to the 
stock of the Credit Mobilier ? A. No, sir ; I have not. I had 
no knowledge that Mr. Ames had ever talked with anybody but 
myself. It was a subject I gave but little attention to ; in fact, 
many of the details had almost passed out of my mind until they 
were caMed up in the late campaign. 

By Mr. Black: 

Q. Did you say you refused to take the stock simply because 
there was a lawsuit about it? A. No; not exactly that. I do 
not remember any other reason wliich I gave to Mr. Ames than 
that I did not wish to take stock in anything that would involve 
controversy. I think I gave him no other reason than that. 

Q. AVhen you ascertained the relation that this company had 
with the Union Pacific liailroad Company, and whence its profits 
were to be derived, would you have considered that a sufficient 
reason for declining it irrespective of other considerations ? A. It 
would have been as the case was afterwards stated. 

Q. At the time you talked with Mr. Ames, before you rejected 
the proposition, you did not know whence the profits of the com- 
pany were to be derived ? A. I did not. I do not know that 
Mr. Ames withheld, intentionally, from me any information. I 
had derived my original knowledge of the organization of the 
company from Mr. Train. He made quite an elaborate statement 
of its purposes, and I proceeded in subsequent conversations upon 
the supposition that the organization was unchanged. I ought to 
lay for myself, 38 well as for Mr. Ames, that he never said anj 



366 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

word to me that indicated the least desire to influence my legis- 
lative action in any way. If he had any such purpose, he cer- 
tainly never said auytliing to me which would indicate it. 

Q. You know now, and have known for a long time, that Mr. 
Ames was deeply interested in the legislation on this subject ? 
A. I supposed that he was largely interested in the Union Pacific 
Railroad. I have heard various statements to that effect. I can- 
not say I had any such information of my own knowledge. 

Q. You mean that he did not electioneer with you or solicit 
your vote ? A. Certainly not. None of the conversations I ever 
had with him had any reference to such legislation. 

By Mr. Merrick : 

Q. Have you any knowledge of any other member of Congress 
being concerned in the Credit Mobilier stock ? A. No, sir ; I 
have not. 

Q. Or any stock in the Unio'n Pacific Railroad ? A. I have 
not. I can say to the committee that I never saw, I believe, in my 
life, a certificate of stock of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, 
and I never saw any certificate of stock of the Credit Mobilier, 
until Mr. Brooks exhibited one, a few days ago, in the House of 
Representatives. 

Q. Were any dividends ever tendered to you on the stock of 
the Credit Mobilier upon the supposition that you were to be a 
subscriber ? A. No, sir. 

Q. This loan of $300 you have repaid, if I understand you 
correctly ? A. Yes, sir. 

By Mr. McCrary : 

Q. You never examined the charter of the Credit Mobilier to 
see what were its objects ? A. No, sir ; I never saw it. 

Q. If I understood yon, you did not know that the Credit Mo* 
bilier had any connection wdth the Union Pacific Railroad Com- 
pany ? A. I understood from the statement of Mr. Train that its 
objects were connected with the lands of the Union Pacific Rail- 
road Company and the development and settlements along that 
road ; but that it iiad any relation to the Union Pacific Railroad 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 367 

other than that, I did not know. I think I did hear also that 
the company was investing some of its earnings in the bonds of 

the road. 

Q. He stated it was for the purpose of purchasing hind and 
ouihling houses ? A. That was the statement of Mr. Train. I 
think he said in that connection that he had ah-eady been doing 
something of that kind at Omaha, or was going to do it. 

Q. You did not know that the object was to build the Union 
Pacific Railroad ? A. No, sir ; I did not. 

This is the case as I understand it, and as I have 
always understood it. In reviewing it, after all that has 
been said and written during the past winter, there are 
no substantial changes which I could now make, except 
to render a few points more definite. Few men can be 
certain that they give with absolute correctness the de- 
tails of conversations and transactions after a lapse of 
five years. Subject to this limitation I have no doubt 
of the accuracy of my remembrance concerning this 
transaction. 

From this testimony it will be seen that when Mr. 
Ames offered to sell me the stock in 1867-68, my only 
knowledge of the character and objects of the Cr.'dit Mo- 
bilier Company was obtained from Mr. Train, at least as 
early as the winter of 1866-67, long before the company 
had become a party to the construction contract. It has 
been said that I am mistaken in thinking it was the 
Credit Mobilier that Mr. Train offered me in 1866-67. 
I think I am not. Mr. Durant, in explaining his con- 
nection with the CrJ'dit Mobilier Company, says (pp. 
169,176): 

1 sent Mr. Train to Philadelpliia. We wanted it (the Credit 
Mobilier) for a stock operation, but we could not agree what was 



368 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

to be done with it. Mr. Train proposed to go on an expanded 
scale, but I abandoned it. I think Mr. Train got some subscrip- 
tions ; what they were I do not know. 

It has been said that it is absurd to suppose that ia- 
telligent men, familiar with public affairs, did not under- 
stand all about the relation of the Credit Mobilier Com- 
pany to the Pacific Railroad Company. It is a sufficient 
answer to say that, until the present winter, a few men 
either in or out of Congress ever understood it, and it 
was for the interest of those in the management of that 
arrangement to prevent these facts from being known. 
This will appear from the testimony of the Hon. J. F. 
Wilson, who purchased ten shares of the stock in 1868. 
In the spring of 1869 he was called upon professionally 
to give an opinion as to the right of holders of Pacific 
Railroad stock to vote their own shares, notwithstand- 
ing the proxy they had given to the seven trustees. 
To enable him to understand the case, a copy of the 
triple contract was placed in his hands. He says 
(page 213j : 

Down to the time these papers were placed in my hands, 1 
knew almost nothing of the organization and details of the Credit 
Mobilier, or the value of its stock, but then saw that here was 
abundant ground for future trouble and litigation, and, as one of 
the results, sold out my interest. 

And again (p. 216) : 

Q. Do you, or did you know, at the time you had this nego- 
tiation with Mr. Ames, the value of the Credit Mobilier stock ? 
A. I did not ; and I wish to state here, in regard to that, that it 
was a very difficult thing to ascertain what was the value of the 
stock. Those who, as I say in my statement, possessed the secrets 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 369 

of the Credit Mobilier, kept them to themselves ; and I never 
was able to set any definite information as to what the value of 
the stock was. 

When, in the winter of 1867-68, jNIr. Ames proposed 
to sell ine some of the stock, I regarded it as a mere repe- 
tition of the offer made by Mr. Train more than a year 
before. The company was the same, and the amount 
offered me was the same. Mr. Ames knew it had for- 
merly been offered me, for I had then asked him his 
opinion of such an investment; and having understood 
the objects of the company, as stated by Mr. Train, I did 
not inquire further on that point. 

There could not be the slightest impropriety in taking 
the stock, had the objects of the company been such as 
Mr. Train represented them to me. The only question 
on which I then hesitated was that of the personal pe- 
cuniary liability attaching to a subscription; and, to 
settle that question, I asked to see the charter, and the 
conditions on which the stock were based. I have no 
doubt Mr. Ames expected I would subscribe. But more 
than a year passed without further discussion of the sub- 
ject. The papers were not brought, and the purchase 
never was made. 

In the winter of 1869-70, I received the first intima- 
tion I ever had of the real nature of the connection be- 
tween the Credit MobiKer Company and the Pacific Pv^ail- 
road Company, in a private conversation with the Hon. J. 
S. Black, of Pennsylvania. Finding in the course of that 
conversation that he was familiar with the history of the 
enterprise, I told him all I knew about the m.atter, ami 
informed him of the offer that had been made me He 

24 



370 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

expressed the opinion that the managers of the Credit 
Mobilier were attempting to defraud the Pacific Raih'oad 
Company, and informed me that Mr. Ames was pretend- 
ing to have sohi stock to members of Congress, for the 
purpose of inQuencing their action in any legislation that 
might arise on the subject. 

Though I had neither done nor said anything which 
placed me under any obligation to take the stock, I at 
once informed Mr. Ames that if he was still holding the 
offer open to me he need do so no longer, for I would not 
take the stock. This I did immediately after the con- 
versation with Judge Black, which according to his own 
recollection as well as mine, was early in the winter of 
1869-70. 

One circumstance has given rise to a painful conflict 
of testimony between Mr. Ames and myself. I refer to 
the loan of $300. Among the various criticisms that 
have been made on this subject, it is said to be a suspi- 
cious circumstance that I should have borrowed so small 
a sum of money from Mr. Ames about this time. As 
stated in my testimony, I had just returned from Europe, 
only a few days before the session began, and the ex- 
penses of the trip had brought me short of funds. I 
might have alluded in the same connection to the fact, 
that before going abroad I had obtained money from a 
banker in New York, turning over to him advanced drafts 
for several months of my Congressional salary when it 
should be due. And needing a small sum, early in the 
session, for current expenses, I asked it of Mr. Ames, for 
the reason that he had volunteered to put me in the way 
of making what he thought would be a profitable invest- 



1 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 371 

ment. He gave me the money, asking for no receipt, but 
saying at the time that if I concluded to take the stock 
we would settle both matters together. I am not able to 
fix the exact date of the loan, but it was probably in 
January, 1868. 

Mr. Ames seemed to have forgotten this circum- 
stance until I mentioned it to him after the investigation 
began ; for he said in his first testimony (p. 28) that he 
had forgotten that he had let me have any money. I 
neglected to pay him this money until after the conver- 
sation with Judge Black, partly because of my pecu- 
niary embarrassments, and partly because no conclusion 
had been reached in regard to the purchase of the stock. 
When I repaid him I took no receipt, as I had given none 
at the first. 

Mr. Ames said once or twice, in the course of his 
testimony, that I did not repay it, although he says in 
regard to it, on page 358, that he does not know and 
cannot remember. 

ADDITIONAL TESTIMONY. 

On these differences of recollection between Mr. 
Ames and myself, it is not so important to show that 
my statement is the correct one, as to show that I have 
made it strictly in accordance with my understanding of 
the facts. And this I am able to show by proof entirely 
independent of my own testimony. 

In the spring of 1868, the Hon. J. P. Robison, of 
Cleveland, Ohio, was my guest here in Washington, and 
^ent nearly two weeks with me during the trial of the 
impeachment of Andrew Johnson There has existed 



372 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

between us an intimate acquaintance of long standing, 
and I have often consulted him on business affairs. On 
meeting him since the adjournment of Congress, he in- 
forms me that while he was visiting me on the occasion 
referred to, I stated to him the offer of iNIr. Ames, and 
asked him his opinion of it. The following letter, just 
received from him, states the conversation as he remem- 
bers it : 

Cleveland, Ohio, May 1, 1873. 

Deak Gexeral : — I send you the facts concerning a conversa- 
tion which I had with you (I think in the spring of 1868), when 
I was stopping in Washington for some clays, as your guest, during 
the trial of the impeachment of President Johnson. While there, 
you told me that Mr. Ames had offered you a chance to invest a 
small amount in a company that was to operate in lands and 
buildings along the Pacific Railroad, which he (Ames) said would 
be a good thing. You asked me what I thought of it as a busi- 
ness proposition; that you had not determined what you would do 
about it, and suggested to me to talk with Ames, and form my 
own judgment; and if I thought well enough of it to advance the 
money and buy the stock on joint account with you, and let you 
pay me interest on the one-half, I could do so. But I did not 
think well of the proposition as a business enterprise, and did not 
talk with Mr. Ames on the subject. 

After this talk, having at first told you I would give the sub- 
ject thought, and perhaps talk with Ames, I told you one evening 
that I did not think well of the proposition, and had not spoken 
to Ames on the subject. Yours, truly, 

J. P. EOBISO-NT. 

Hon. J. A. Garfield. 

I subjoin two other letters, which were written about 
the time the report of the committee was made, and to 
which I refer in my remarks made on the 3d of March 
in the House of Representatives. The first is from a 



CREDIT MOBILIER 1>RIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 378 

citizen of the town where I reside ; and the time of the 
conversation to which it alludes was, as near as I can 
remember, in the fall of 1868, daring the recess of Con- 
gress : 

Hiram, Ohio, February 18, 1873. 

Deak Sir : — It may be relevant to the question at issue be- 
tween yourself and Mr. Oakes Ames, in the Credit Mobilier inves- 
tigation, for me to state that three or four years ago, in a private 
conversation, you made a statement to me involving the substance 
of your testimony before the Poland Committee, as published in 
the newspapers. The material points of your statement were 
these : 

That you hud been spoken to by George Francis Train, who 
offered you some shares of the Credit Mobilier stock ; that you 
told him that you had no money to invest in stocks ; that subse- 
quently you had a conversation in relation to the matter with Mr. 
Ames ; that Ames offered to carry the stock for you until you 
could pay for it, if you cared to buy it ; and that you had told 
him in that case perhaps you would take it, but would not agree 
to do so until you had inquired more fully into the matter. Such 
an arrangement as this was made, Ames agreeing to carry the 
stock until you should decide. In this way the matter stood, as I 
understood it, at the time of our conversation. My understand- 
ing was distinct that you had not accepted Mr. Ames's proposi- 
tion, but that the shares were still held at your option. 

You stated further, that the company was to operate in real 
property along the line of the Pacific road. Perhaps I should add 
that this conversation, which I have always remembered very dis- 
tinctly, took place here in Hiram. I have remembered the con- 
versation the more distinctlv from the circumstances that gave rise 
to it. Having been intimately acquainted with you for twelve or 
fifteen years, and having had a considerable knowledge of your 
pecuniary affairs. I asked -you how you were getting on, and 
especially whether you were managing to reduce your debts. In 
reply you gave me a detailed statement of your affairs, and con- 
cluded by saying you had had some stock offered you, which, if 



374 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

you bought it, would probably make you some money. You tlien 
proceeded to state the case, as I have stated it above. 

I cannot fix the time of this conversation more definitely than 
to say it was certainly tliree, and probably four, years ago. 
Very truly, yours, 

B. A. Hinsdale, 

President of Hiram College. 
Hon. J. A. Garfield, 

Washington, D. G. 

The other letter was addressed to the Speaker of the 
House, and is as follows : 

Philadelphia, February 15, 1873. 

My Dear Sir : — From the beginning of the investigation con- 
cerning Mr, Ames's use of the Credit Mobilier, I believed that 
General Garfield was free from all guilty connection with that 
business. This opinion was founded not merely on my confidence 
in his integrity, but on some special knowledge of his case. I 
may have told you all about it in conversation, but I desire now 
to repeat it by way of reminder. 

I assert unhesitatingly that, whatever General Garfield may 
have done or forborne to do, he acted in profound ignorance of 
the nature and character of the thing which Mr. Ames was pro- 
posing to sell. He had not the slightest suspicion that he was to 
be taken into a ring organized for the purpose of defrauding the 
public ; nor did he know that the stock was in any manner con- 
nected with anything which came, or could come, with the legis- 
lative jurisdiction of Congress. The case against him lacks the 
scienter which alone constitutes guilt. 

In the winter of 18G9-'70, I told General Garfield of the fact 
that his name was on Ames's list ; that Ames charged him with 
being one of his distributees ; explained to him the character, 
origin, and objects of the Credit Mobilier ; pointed out the con- 
nection it had with Congressional legislation, and showed him how 
impossible it was for a member of Congress to hold stock in it 
without bringing his private interests in conflict with his public 
duty That all this was to him a perfectly new revelation I am 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 375 

as sure as I can be of such a fact, or of any fact which is capable 
of being proved only by moral circumstances. lie told me, then, 
the whole story of Train's offer to him and Ames's subsequent so- 
licitation, and his own action in the premises, much as he details 
it to the committee. I do not undertake to reproduce the conver- 
sation, but the effect of it all was to convince me thoroughly that 
when he listened to Ames he was perfectly unconscious of any- 
thing evil. I watched carefully every word that fell from him on 
this point, and did not regard his narrative of the transaction in 
other respects with much interest, because in my view everything 
else was insignificant. I did not care whether he had made a bar- 
gain technically binding or not ; his integrity depended upon the 
question whether he acted with his eyes open. If he had known 
the true character of the proposition made to him he would not 
have endured it, much less embraced it. 

Now, couple this with Mr. Ames's admission that he gave no 
explanation whatever of the matter to General Garfield ; then re- 
flect that not a particle of proof exists to show that he learned 
anything about it previous to his conversation with me, and I 
think you will say that it is altogether unjust to put him on the 
list of those who, knowingly and wilfully, joined the fraudulent 
association in question. 

J. S. Black. 
Hon. J, G. Blaine, 

Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

To these may be added the fact, recently published 
by Colonel Donn Piatt, of this city, that in the winter of 
1869-70 he had occasion to look into the history of the 
Credit Mobilier Company, and found the same state of 
facts concerning my connection with it as are set forth in 
the letters quoted above. 

Whether my understanding of the facts is correct or 
not, it is manifest from the testimony given above that iu 
the spring of 1868, and in the autumn of that year, and 
again in the winter of 1869, when, I could have no motive 



376 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

to misrepresent the facts, I stated the case to these geii" 
tlemen, substantially as it is stated in my testimony be- ^ 
fore the committee. 

RESPONSE TO THE CHARGE IN SEPTEMBER, 1872. 

But it has been charged in the newspapers that dur- 
ing the Presidential campaign, I denied any knowledge 
of the subject, or at least that I allowed the impression 
to be made upon the public mind that I knew nothing of 
it. To this I answer, I wrote no letter on the subject and 
made no statement in any public address, except to deny 
in the broadest terms, the only charge then made, that I 
had been bribed by Oakes Ames. 

When the charges first appeared in the newspapers, 
I was in Montana Territory, and heard nothing of them 
until my return on the 13th or 14th of September. On 
the following day I met General Boynton, correspon- 
dent of tlie Cincinnati Gazette, and related to him briefly 
what I remembered about the offer to sell the stock. I 
told him I should write no letter on the subject, but if 
he thought best to publish the substance of what I had 
stated to him he could do so. The same day he wrote 
'and telegraphed from Washington to the Cincinnati Ga- 
zette, under date of September 15, 1872, the following, 
which is a brief but correct report of my statement to 
him : 

General Garfield, who lias just arrived here from the Indian 
country, has to-day had the first opportunity of seeing the charges 
connecting his name with receiving shares of the Credit Mobilier 
from Oakes Ames. He authorizes the statement that he never 
subscribed for a single share of the stock, and that he never re- 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 377 

ceived or saw a share of it. When the company was first formed, 
George Francis Train, then active in it, came to Washington and 
exhibited a list of subscribers, of leading capitalists and some 
members of Congress, to the stock of the company. The sub- 
scription was described as a popular one of $1,000 cash. Train 
urged General Garfield to subscribe on two occasions, and each 
time he declined. Subsequently he was again informed that the 
list was nearly completed, but that a chance remained for him to 
subscribe, when he again declined, and to this day has not sub- 
scribed for or received any share of stock or bond of the company. 

This dispatch was widely copied in the newspapers at 
the time, and was the only statement I made or author- 
ized. One thing in connection with the case I withheld 
from the public. When I saw the letters of Oakes Ames 
to Mr. McComb, I was convinced, from what Judge Black 
had told me in 18G0, that they were genuine, and that 
Ames had pretended to McComb that he had sold the 
Credit Mobilier stock for the purpose of securing the 
influence of members of Congress in any legislation that 
might arise touching his interests. I might have pub- 
lished the fact that I had heard this, and now believed 
Ames had so represented it ; though at the time Judge 
Black gave me the information I thought quite likely he 
was mistaken. I did not know to what extent any other 
member of Congress had had negotiations with Mr. Ames ; 
but knowing the' members whose names were published 
in connection with the charges, and believing them to be 
men of the highest integrity, I did not think it just either 
to them or to the party with which we acted, to express 
my opinion of the genuineness of Ames's letters at a time 
when a false construction would doubtless have been 
placed upon it. 



378 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

Here 1 might rest the case, but for some of the testi- 
mony given by Mr. Ames in reference to myself. I shall 
consider it carefully, and shall make quotations of his 
language, or refer to it by pages as printed in the report, 
so that the correctness of my citations may, in every 
case, be verified 

POINTS OF AGREEMENT AND DIFFERENCE BE- 
TWEEN MR. AMES AND MYSELF. 

To bring the discussion into as narrow a compass as 
possible, the points of agreement and difference between 
Mr. Ames and myself may thus be stated : 

We agree that, soon after the beginning of the session 
of 1867-68, Mr. Ames offered to sell me ten shares of 
the Credit Mobilier stock, at par and the accrued in- 
terest ; that I never paid him any money on that offer ; 
that I never received a certificate of stock ; that after 
the month of June, 1868, I never received, demanded, or 
was offered any dividend, in any form, on that stock. 
We also agree that I once received from Mr. Ames a 
small sum of money. On the following points w^e dis- 
agree : He claims that I agreed to take the stock. I 
deny it. He claims that I received from him $329, 
and no more, as a balance of dividends on the stock. 
This I deny; and assert that I borrowed from him $300, 
and no more, and afterwards returned it; and that 
I never received anything from him on account of the 
stock. 

In discussing the testimony relating to myself, it be- 
comes necessary, for a full exhibition of the argument, to 
refer to that concerning others. 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 379 

MR. AMES'S FIRST TESTIMONY. 

It has been said that in Mr. Ames's first testi- 
mony, he withheld or concealed the facts generally ; and 
hence, that what he said at that time concerning any 
one person is of but little consequence. The weight 
and value of his first testimony concerning any one 
person can be ascertained only by comparing it with 
his testimony given at the same examination concerning 
others. 

In that first examination of December 17, as recorded 
on pp. 15-58, Mr. Ames mentions by name (pp. 19-21) 
sixteen members of Congress who were said to have had 
dealings with him in reference to Credit Mobilier stock. 
Eleven of these, he says in that testimony, bought the 
stock ; but he there sets me down among the five who did 
not buy it. He says (p. 21), " He [Garfield] did not 
pay for it or receive it." 

He was, at the same time, cross-examined in regard 
to the dividends he paid to different persons; and he 
testified (pp. 23-41) that he paid one or more dividends 
to eight diiferent members of Congress, and that three 
others, being original subscribers, drew their dividends, 
not from him, but directly from the company. To sev- 
eral of the eight he says he paid all the dividends that 
accrued. 

But in the same cross-examination he testified that 
he did not remember to have paid me any dividends, nor 
that he had let me have any money. The following 
is the whole of his testimony concerning me, on cross- 
examination : 



380 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

Q. In reference to Mr. Garfield, you say that you agreed to 
get ten shares for him and to hold them till he could pay for them, 
and that he never did pay for them nor receive them ? A. Yes, sir. 

Q. He never paid any money on that stock nor received any 
money from it ? A. Not on account of it. 

Q. He received no dividends ? A. No, sir ; I think not. He 
says he did not. My own recollection is not very clear. 

Q. So that, as you understand, Mr. Garfield never parted with 
any money, nor received any money on that transaction ? A. No, 
sir ; he had some money from me once, some three or four hun- 
dred dollars, and called it a loan. He says that is all he ever re- 
ceived from me, and that he considered it a loan. He never took] 
his stock, and never paid for it. 

Q. Did you understand it so ? A. Yes ; I am willing to so 
understand it. I do not recollect paying him any dividend, and 
have forgotten that I paid him any money. — (P. 28). 

Q. Who received the dividends ? A. Mr. Patterson, Mr. , 
Bingham, James F. Wilson did, and I think Mr. Colfax received] 
a part of them. I do not know whether he received them all or] 
not. I think Mr. Scofield received a part of them. Messrs. Kel- 
ley and Garfield never paid for their stock, and never received] 
their dividends. — (P. 40). 

Certainly, it cannot be said that Mr. Ames ha,s evinced] 
any partiality for me; and if he was attempting to shield; 
any of those concerned, it will not be claimed that I was] 
one of his favorites. 

In his first testimony, he claims to have spoken from] 
memory, and without the aid of his documents. But 
he did then distinctly testify that he sold the stock to 
eleven members, and paid dividends to eight of them, 
lie not only did not put me in either of those lists, but 
distinctly testified that I never took the stock nor re- 
ceived the dividends arising from it. 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 381 

MR. AMES'S SUBSEQUENT TESTIMONY. 

His second testimony was given on the 22d January, 
five weeks after his first. In assigning to this and all 
his subsequent testimony its just weight, it ought to be 
said that before he gave it, fin event occurred which 
made it strongly for his interest to prove a sale of the 
stock which he held as trustee. Besides the fact that 
McComb had already an equity suit pending in Phila- 
delphia, to compel Mr. Ames to account to him for this 
same stock, another suit was threatened, after he had 
given his first testimony, to make him account to the 
company for all the stock he had not sold as trustee. 
His first testimony was given on the 17th December, 
and was made public on the 6th of January. On the 
15th of January, T. C. Durant, one of the heaviest stock- 
holders of the Credit Mobilier Company, and for a long 
time its president, was examined as a witness, and said, 
(p. 173) : " The stock that stands in the name of Mr. 
Ames, as trustee, I claim belongs to the company yet ; 
and I have a summons in suit in my pocket waiting 
to catch him in New York to serve the papers." Ot 
course, if as a trustee he had made sale of any por- 
tion of this stock, and afterward as an individual had 
bought it back, he could not be compelled to return it 
to the company. 

Nowhere in Mr. Ames's subsequent testimony does he 
claim to rememhe?" the transaction between himself and 
me any differently from what he first stated it to be. 
But from the memoranda found or made after his first 
examination, he infers and declares that there was a sale 



382 > JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

of the stock to me, and a, payment to me of $329 oH 
account of dividends. 

Here, again, his testimony concerning me should be 
compared with his testimony given at the same time con- 
cerning others. 

The memoranda out of which his additional testimony 
grew, consisting of certificates of stock, receipts, checks 
on the Sergeant-at-Arms, and entries in his diary. 1 
will consider these in the order stated. 

To two members of Congress he delivered certificates 
of Credit Mobilier stock, which as trustee he had sold to 
them (see pp. 267 and 290) ; and in a third case he 
delivered a certificate of stock to the person to whom a 
member had sold it. But Mr. Ames testified that he 
never gave me a certificate of stock ; that I never de- 
manded one; and that no certificate Avas ever spoken of 
between us. (See pp. 295, 296.) 

In the case of five members, he gave to them, or 
received from them, regular receipts of payment on ac- 
count of stock and dividends. (See pp. 21, 113, 191, 
204, 337, 456, and 458.) But nowhere is it claimed or 
pretended that any receipt was ever given by me, or to 
me, on account of this stock, or on account of any divi- 
dends arising from it. 

Again, to five of the members, Mr. Ames gave checks 
on the Sergeant-at-Arms, payable to them by name ; 
and these checks were produced in evidence. (See pp. 
333, 334, and 449.) In the case of three others, he 
produced checks bearing on their face the initials of the 
persons to whom he claimed they were paid. But he 
nowhere pretended to have or ever to have hud any check 



CREDIT MOBILIER — TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 3(^83 

bearing either my name or my initials, or any mark or 
indorsement connecting it with me. 

In regard to dividends claimed in his subsequent tes- 
timony to have been paid to different members, in two 
cases he says he paid all the dividends that accrued on 
the stock from December, 1867, to May 6, 1871. (See 
pp. 191 and 337.) In a third case, all the accretions 
of the stock were received by the person to whom he 
sold it, as the result of a resale. (See p. 217.) In a 
fourth case he claims to have paid money on the 22d 
September, 1868, on account of dividends (see p. 461); 
and in a fifth case he claims to have paid a dividend 
in full, January 22, 1869. (See p. 454.) One pur- 
chaser sold his ten shares in the winter of 1868-69, and 
received thereon a net profit of at least $3,000. Yet 
Mr. Ames repeatedly swears that he never paid me 
but $329 ; that after June, 1868, he never tendered to 
me nor did I ever demand from him any dividend ; and 
that there was never any conversation between us relat- 
ing to dividends. (See pp. 40, 296, and 356.) 

As an example of his testimony on this point, I 
quote from page 296. After Mr. Ames had stated that 
he remembered no conversation between us in regard 
to the adjustment of these accounts, the committee 
asked : 

Q. Was this the only dealing you had with him in reference 
to any stock ? A. I think so. 

Q. Was it the only transaction of any kind ? A. The only 
transaction. 

Q. Has that $329 ever been paid to you ? A. I have no recol- 
lection of it. 

Q. Have you any belief that it ever has ? A. No, sir. 



38^ 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



Q. Did you ever loan General Garfield 1300 ? A. Not to my 
knowledge : except that he calls this a loan. 

Q, There were dividends of Union Pacific Railroad stock 'on 
thqse ten shares ? A. Yes, sir. 

Q. Did General Garfield ever receive these ? A. No, sir. He 
never has received but $3.29. . . . 

Q. Has there been any conversation between you and him 
in reference to the Pacific stock he was entitled to ? A. Ko, 
sir. 

Q. Has he ever called for it ? A. -No, sir. 

Q. Have you ever offered it to him ? A. No, sir. 

Q. Has there been any conversation in relation to it ? A. No, 
sir. 

The assertion that he withheld the payment of divi- 
dends because of the McComb suit brought in Novem- 
ber, 1868, is v^hoUy broken down by the f;ict that he 
did pay the dividend to several persons during a period 
of two years after the suit was commenced. 

The only other memoranda offered as evidence are 
the entries in Mr. Ames's diary for 1868. That book 
contains a separate statement of an account with eleven 
members of Congress, showing the number of shares of 
stock sold or intended to be sold to each, with the in- 
terest and dividends thereon. (See pp. 450 to 46J.) 
Across the face of nine of these accounts, long lines are 
drawn, crossing each other, showing, as Mr. Ames says, 
that in each such case the account was adjusted and 
closed. Three of these entries of accounts are not thus 
crossed off (see pp. 451, 458, and 459,) and the three 
members referred to therein testify that they never 
bought the stock. The account entered under my name 
is one of three that are not crossed off. Here is the 
entry in full. (See p. 459 :) 



CREDIT MOBILIER— TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION.^W385 

Gaefield. 

10 shares Credit M $1,000 00 

7 mos, 10 days 43 36 

1,043 36 
80 per ct. bd. div., at 97 776 00 

267 36 
lut't to June 20 3 64 

271 00 

1,000 C. M. 
1,000 U. P. 

This entry is a mere undated memorandum, and indi- 
cates neither payment, settlement, or sale. In reference 
to it, the following testimony was given by Mr. Ames 
on cross-examination (see p. 460) : 

Q. This statement of Mr. Garfield's account is not crossed off, 
which indicates, does it, that the matter has never been settled or 
adjusted ? A. No, sir ; it never has. 

Q. Can you state whether you have any other entry in relation 
to Mr. Garfield ? A. No, sir. 

Comparing Mr. Ames's testimony in reference to me, 
with that in reference to others, it appears that when 
he testified from his memory alone, he distinctly and 
affirmatively excepted me from the list of those who 
bought the stock or received the dividends ; and that 
subsequently, in every case save my own, he produced 
some one or more of the following documents as evi- 
dence, viz., certificates of stock ; receipts of money or 
dividends ; checks bearing either the full names or the 
initials of the persons to w^hom they purported to have 
been paid ; or entries, in his diary, of accounts marked 

25 



386 ^ JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

"adjusted and closed." But no one of the classes of 
memoranda here described was produced in reference 
to me ; nor was it pretended that any one such, refer- 
ring to me ever existed. 

In this review, I neither assert nor intimate that 
sales of stock are proved in the other cases referred to. 
In several cases such proof was not made. But I do 
assert that none of the evidences mentioned above exist 
in reference to me. 

MR. AMES'S MEMORANDA. 

Having thus stated the difference between the testi- 
mony relating to other persons, and that relating to me, 
I now notice the testimony on which it is attempted to 
reach the conclusion that I did agree to take the stock, 
and did receive $329 on account of it. 

On the 22d of January, Mr. Ames presented to the 
committee a statement of an alleged account with me, 
wliich I quote from page 397 : 

J. A. G. Dr. 

1868. To 10 shares stock Credit Mobilier of A $1,000 00 

Interest 47 00 

June 19. To cash 329 00 

$1,376 00 

Cr. 

1868. By divfflend bonds. Union Pacific Railroad, 

61,000, at 80 per cent , less 3 per cent . $776 00 
June 17. By dividend collected for your account 600 00 

1,376 00 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 387 

This account, and other similar ones presented at 
the same time, concerning other members, he claimed to 
have copied from his memorandum-book. But when the 
memorandum-book was subsequently presented, it was 
found that the account here quoted was not copied from 
it, but was made up partly from memory and partly from 
such memoranda as Mr. Ames had discovered after his 
first examination. 

By comparing this account with the entry made in 
his diary, and already quoted, it will fee seen that they 
are not duplicates, either in substance or form ; and that 
in this account a new element is added, namely, an al- 
legetl payment of |329 in cash on June 19. This is the 
Yery element in dispute. 

THE CHECK ON" THE SERGEAXT-AT-ARMS. 

The pretended proof that this sum was paid me is 
found in the production of a check drawn by Mr. Ames 
on the Sergeant-at-Arms. The following is the language 
of the check, as reported on page 353 of the testimony : 

June 22, 1868. 
Pay 0. A. or bearer three hundred and twenty-nine dollars, 
and charge to my account. 

Oakes Ames. 

This check bears no indorsement or other mark, 
than the words and figures given above. It was drawn 
on the 22d day of June, and, as shown by the books of 
the Sergeant-at-Arms, was paid the same day by the 
paying-teller. But if this check was paid to me on the 
account just quoted, ii must have been delivered to me three 



388 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

days before it was draivn ; for the account says that I 
received the payment on the 19th of June. 

Tlnere is nothing but the testimony of Mr. Ames that 
in any way connects this cheek with me. And, as the 
committee find that the check was paid to me, I call 
special attention to all the testimony that bears upon the 
question. 

When Mr. Ames testified that he paid me $329 as a 
dividend on account of the stock the following question 
was asked him (p. 295) : " 

Q. How was that paid ? A. Paid in money, I believe. 

At a later period in the examination (p. 297) : 

Q. You say that $329 was paid to him. How was that paid ? 
A. I presume by a check on the Sergeant-at-Arms. I find there 
checks filed, without indicating who they were for. 

One week later, the check referred to above was 
produced, and the following examination was had (p. 
353): 

Q. This check seems to have been paid to somebody, and 
taken up by the Sergeant-at-Arms. Those initials are your own ? 
A. Yes, sir. 

Q. Do you know who had the benefit of this check ? A. I 
cannot tell you. 

Q. Do you think you received the money on it yourself ? A. 
I have no idea. I may have drawn the money and handed it tc 
another person. It was paid in that transaction. It may have 
been paid to Mr. Garfield. There were several sums of that 
amount. 

Q. Have you any memory in reference to this check ? A. 1 
Lave no memory as to that particular check. 

Still later in the examination occurs the following 
(p. 354) : 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 389 

Q. In regard to Mr, Garfield, do you know whether yon gave 
him a check, or paid him the money ? A. I chink I did not pay 
him the money. He got it from the Sergeant-at-Arms. 

Still later, in the same examination, occurs the fol- 
lowing (p. 355) : 

Q. You think the check on which you wrote nothing to in- 
dicate the payee must have been Mr. Garfield's ? A. Yes, sir. 
That is my judgment. 

On the ilth of February, twelve days later still, the 
subject came up again, and Mr. Ames said (p. 471) : 

A. I am not sure how I paid Mr. Garfield. 

Still later, in a cross-examination in reference to Mr. 
Colfax, the following occurs (p 471) ; 

Q. In testifying in Mr. Garfield's case, you say you may have 
drawn the money on the check and paid him. Is not your an- 
swer equally applicable in the case of Mr. Colfax ? A. No, sir. 

Q. Why not ? A. I put Mr. Colfax's initials on the check, 
while I put no initials on Mr. Garfield's, and I may have drawn 
the money myself. 

Q. Did not Mr. Garfield's check belong to him ? A. Mr. 
Garfield had not paid for his stock. Ho was entitled to $329 
balance. But Mr. Colfax paid for his, and I had no business with 
his 11,200. 

Q. Is your recollection in regard to this payment to Mr. Col- 
fax any more clear than your recollection as to the payment to 
Mr. Garfield ? A. Yes, sir ; I think it is. 

And finally, in the examination of Mr. Dillon, cashier 
of the Sergeant-at-Arms, the following is recorded (p. 
179) : 

Q. There is a eheok payable to Cakes Ames or bearer. Have 
you any recollection of that ? A. That was paid to himself. I 
havfi no doubt myself that I paid that to Mr. Ames. 



3'90 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

Reviewing the testimony on this point (and I have 
quoted it all), it will be seen that Mr. Ames several 
times asserts that he does not know whether he paid me 
the check or not. He states positively that he has no 
special recollection of the check. His testimony is wholly 
inferential. In one of the seven paragraphs quoted, he 
says he paid me the money ; in another he says he may 
have paid me the money ; in three of them he thinks, or 
presumes, that he paid me the check j and in the other 
tw^o he says he does not know. 

The cashier of the Sergeant-at-Arms has no doubt 
that Mr. Ames himself drew the money on the check. 
And yet, upon this vague and wholly inconclusive testi- 
mony, and almost alone upon it, is based the assumption 
that I received from Mr. Ames $329, as a dividend on 
the stock. I affirm, with perfect distinction of recollec- 
tion, that I received no check from Mr. Ames. The only 
money J ever received from him was in currency. 

The only other evidence in support of the assumption 
that he paid me $329, as a balance on the stock, is found 
in the entries in his diary for 1868. The value of this* 
class of memoranda depends altogether upon their charac- 
ter and upon the business habits of the man who makes 
them. On this latter point the following testimony of 
Mr. Ames, on page 34, is important : 

Q. Is it your habit, as a matter of business, in conducting va- 
rious transactions with difEerent pei'sons, to do it without making 
anv memoranda ? A. This was my habit. Until witliin a year 
or two I have had no bookkeeper, and I used to keep all my own 
matters in my own way, and very carelessly, I admit. 

The memorandum-book in which these entries were 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 391 

made was not presented to the committee until the 11th 
of February, one week before they made their report. 
This book does not contain continuous entries of current 
transactions, with consecutive dates. It is in no sense a 
day-book, but contains a loose, irregular mass of memo- 
randa, which may have been made at the time of the 
transactions, or long afterward. Mr. Ames says of it in 
his testimony (p. 281) : 

Q. What was the character of the book in which the memo 
randa were made ? A. It was in a small pocket memorandum, 
an^ some of it on slips of paper. 

It is not pretended that this book contains a complete 
record of payments and receipts. And yet, besides the 
check already referred to, this book, so made up, contains 
the only evidence, or pretended evidence, on which it is 
claimed that I agreed to take the stock. It should be 
remembered that every portion of this evidence, both 
check and book, is of Mr. Ames's own making. I have 
already referred to the undated memorandum>^f an ac- 
count in this book, under my name, and have shown that 
it neither proved a sale of stock, or any payment on ac- 
count of it. 

There are but two other entries in the book relating 
to me, and they are two lists of names, substantially 
duplicates of each other, with various amounts set oppo- 
site each. They are found on pages 450 and 453 of the 
testimony. The word " paid " is marked before the first 
name on one of these lists, and ditto marks placed un- 
der the word " paid " and opposite the remaining names. 
But, -the value of this entry us proof of payment will be 



892 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

seen from the cross-examination of Mr. Ames, "whicli im 
mediately follows the list (p. 453) : 

Q. This entry, " Paid S. Colfax $1,200," is the amount which 
you paid by tliis check on the Sergeant-at-Arms ? A. Yes, sir. 

Q. Was this entry upon this page of these various names in 
tended to show the amount you vvei'e to pay, or that you .had 
paid ; was that made at this date ? A. I do not know ; it was 
made about that time. I would not have written it on Sunday ; 
it is not very likely. It was made on a blank page. It is simply 
a list of names. 

Q. Were these names put down after you had made the pay- 
ments, or before, do you think ? A. Before, I think. 

Q. You think you made this list before the parties referred to 
had actually received their checks, or received the money ? A. 
Yes, sir ; that was to show whom I had to pay, and who were 
entitled to receive the 60 per cenfe. dividend. It shows whom I 
had to pay here in Washington. 

Q. It says "paid ?"' A. Yes, sir ; well, I did pay it. 

Q. What I want to know is, whether the list was made out 
before or after payment ? A. About the same time, I suppose ; 
probably before. 

The other list, bearing the same names and amounts, 
shows no other evidence that the several sums were paid 
than a cross marked opposite each amount. But con- 
cerning this, Mr. Ames testifies that it was a list of what 
was to be paid, and that the cross was subsequently 
added to show that the amount had been paid. 

Neither of these lists shows anything as to the time 
or mode of payment, and would nowhere be accepted a? 
proof of payment. By Mr. Am»es's own showing, they are 
lists of persons to whom he expected to pay the amounts 
set opposite their names. They may exhibit his expec- 
tations, but they do not prove the alleged payments. If 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 393 

the exact sum of $329 w.*is received by me at the time 
and under the circumstances alleged by Mr. Ames, it im- 
plies an agreement to take the stock. It implies, fur- 
thermore, that Mr. Ames had sold Pacific Railroad bonds 
for me ; that he had received also a cash dividend for me, 
and had accounted to me as trustee for these receipts, 
and the balance of the proceeds. 

Now, I affirm, with the firmest conviction of the cor- 
rectness of my statement, that I never heard until this 
investigation began, that Mr. Ames ever sold any bonds, 
or performed any other stock transactions on my behalf; 
and no act of mine was ever based on such a supposition. 



INTERVIEWS WITH MR. AMES DURING THE INVES- 
TIGATION. 

The only remaining testimony bearing upon me, is that 
in which Mr. Ames refers to conversations between him- 
self and me, after the investigation began. The first of 
' these was of his own seeking, and occurred before he or I 
had testified. Soon after the investigation began, Mr. 
Ames asked me what I remembered of our talk in 1867- 
'68 in reference to the Credit Mobilier Company. I told 
him I could best answer his question by reading to him 
the statement I had already prepared to lay before the 
committee when I should be called. Accordingly, on the 
rollowing day, I took my written statement to the Capi- 
tol, and read it to him carefully, sentence by sentence, 
and asked him to point out anything which he might 
think incorrect. He made but two criticisms ; one in re- 
gard to a date, and the other, that he thought it was the 



394 JAMES A. GARFIELD, 

Credit Foncier and not the Credit Mobilier that Mr. Tmin 
asked me to subscribe to in 1866-67. When I read the 
paragraph in which I stated that I had once borrowed 
$300 of him, he remarked, " I believe I did let you have 
some money, but I had forgotten it." He said nothing to 
indicate that he regarded me as having purchased the 
stock ; and from that conversation I did not doubt that 
he regarded my statement substantially correct. His 
first testimony, given a few days afterward, confirmed 
me in this opinion. 

I had another interview with Mr. Ames, of my own 
seeking, to which he alludes on pages 357 and 359; and 
for a full understanding of it, a statement of some pre- 
vious facts is necessary. I gave my testimony before the 
committee, and in Mr. Ames's hearing, on the morning of 
January 14. It consisted of the statement I had already 
read to Mr. Ames, and of the cross-examination which 
followed my reading of the statement, all of which has 
been quoted above. 

During that afternoon, while I was engaged in the 
management of an appropriation bill in the House, word 
was brought to me that Mr. Ames, on coming out of the 
committee-room, had declared in the hearing of several 
reporters that " Garfield was in league with Judge Black 
to break him down ; that it was $400, not $300, that he 
had let Garfield have, who had not only never repaid it, 
but had refused to repay it." Though this report of Mr. 
Ames's alleged declaration was subsequently found to be 
false, and was doubtless fabricated for the purpose of 
creating difficulty, yet there were circumstances which, 
at die time, led me to suppose that the report was corr^t 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 395 

One was that Judge Black (who was McComb's counsel 
in the suit against Ames) was present at my examination, 
and had drawn out on cross-examination my opinion of 
the nature of Mr. Ames's relation to the Credit Mobilier 
Company and the Union Pacific Company ; and the other 
was, that in Mr. Ames's testimony of December 17, he 
had said (p. 28), " He [Mr. Garfield] had some money 
from me once, some three or four hundred dollars, and 
called it a loan." The sum of four hundred dollars had 
thus been mentioned in his testimony, and it gave jjlausi- 
bility to the story that he was now claiming that as the 
amount he had loaned me. 

Supposing that Mr. Ames had said what was report- 
ed, I was deeply indignant; and, with a view of drawing 
from him a denial or retraction of the statement, or, if he 
persisted in it, to pay him twice over, so that he could no 
longer say or pretend that there existed between us any 
unsettled transaction, I drew some money from the office 
of Sergeant-at-Arms, and, going to my committee-room, 
addressed him the following note : 

House of Repkesentatives, 

January 14, 1873. 
Sir : — I have just been iuformed, to my utter amazemeut, that 
after coming out of the committee-room this morning, you said, in 
the presence of several reporters, that you had loaned me four in- 
stead of three hundred dollars, and that I had not only refused to 
pay you, but was aiding your accusers to injure you in the inves- 
tigation. I shall call the attention of the committee to it, unless 
1 find I am misinformed. To bring the loan question to an im- 
mediate issue between us, I inclose herewith $400. If you wish 
to do justice to the truth and to me, you will return it and cor- 
rect the alleged statement if you made it. If not, you will keep 



396 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

the money and thus be paid twice and more. Silence on yout 
part will be a confession that you have deeply wronged me. 

J. A. Garfield. 
Hon, Oakes Ames. 

After the House had adjourned for the day, I found, 
on returning to my committee-room, that I had omitted to 
inclose the note with the money, which had been sent to 
the House post-office. I immediately sought Mr. Ames 
to deliver the note, but failed to find him at his hotel or 
elsewhere that evening. Early the next morning, Janu- 
ary 15, I found him, and delivered the note. He denied 
having said or claimed any of the things therein set forth, 
and wrote on the back of my letter the following : 

Washington, January 15, 1873. 
Dear Sir : — I return you your letter with inclosurcs, and I ut- 
terly deny ever having said that you refused to pay me, or that it 
was four instead of three hundred dollars, or that yon was aiding 
mv accusers. I also wish to say that there has never been any but 
the most friendly feelings between us, and no transaction in tho 
least degree that can be censured by any fair-minded person. I 
herewith return you the four hundred dollars as not belonging to 

me. Yours, truly, 

Oakes Ames. 
Hon. J. A. Garfield. 

From inquiry of the reporters to whom the remarks 
were alleged to have I een made, I had become satisfied 
that the story was wholly false, and when Mr. Ames add- 
ed his denial, I expressed to him my regret that I had 
written this note in anger and upon false information. I 
furthermore said to Mr. Ames that, if he had any doubt 
in reference to the repayment of the loan, I wished him 
to keep the money. He refused to keep any part of it, 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 397 

and his conversation indicated that he regarded all trans- 
actions between us settled. 

Before I left his room, however, he said he had some 
memoranda which seemed to indicate that the money I 
had of him was on account of stock ; and asked me if he 
did not, some time in 1868, deliver to me a statement to 
that effect. I told him if he had any account of that sort, 
I was neither aware of it, nor responsible for it; and 
thereupon I made substantially the following statement : 

Mr. Ames, the only memorandum you ever showed me was in 
1867-68, when speaking to me of this proposed sale of stock, you 
figured out on a little piece of paper, what you supposed would be 
realized from an investment of $1,000 ; and, as I remember, you 

wrote down these figures : 

1,000 

1,000 

400 

2,400 

as the amounts you expected to realize. 

While saying this to Mr. Ames, I wrote the figures 
as above, on a piece of paper lying on his table, to show 
him what the only statement was he had made to me. 
It is totally false that these figures had any other mean- 
ing than that I have here given; nor did I say anything 
out of which could be fabricated such a statement as ap- 
pears on pages 358, 359. 

In his testimony of January 29, Mr. Ames gives a 
most remarkable account of this interview. Remember- 
ing the fact, by him undisputed, that there had been no 
communication between us on this subject for more than 
four years before this investigation began, notice the fol- 
lowing (p. 358) : 



398 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

Q. Did you have any conversation in reference to the influeneo 
this transaction would have on the election last fall ? A. Yes, he 
Baid it would be very injurious to him. 

Q. What else in reference to that ? A, I am a very bad man 
to repeat conversations ; I cannot remember. 

That is, he makes me, on the 15th of January, 1873, 
express the fear that this transaction will injure me in 
the election of October, 1872! 

Again, pages 357, 358 : 

Q. You may state whether in conversation with you, Mr. Gar- 
field claims, as he claims before us, that the only transaction be- 
tween you was borrowing 6300. A. No, sir, he did not claim that 
with me. 

Q. State how he did claim it with you ; what was said ? A. I 
cannot remember half of it. . . . He [Mr. Garfield] stated that 
when he came back from Europe, being in want of funds, he 
called on me to loan him a sum of money. He thought he had 
repaid it. I do not know ; I do not remember. . . . 

Q. How long after that transaction [the offer to sell Credit 
Mobilier stock] did he go to Europe ? A. 1 believe it was a year 
or two. ... 

Q. Do you not know that he did not go to Europe for nearly 
two years afterward ? A. No, I do not. It is my impression it 
was two years afterward, but I cannot remember dates. 

I should think not, if this testimony is an example 
of his memory ! 

It is known to thousands of people that I went to 
Europe in the summer of 1867, and at no other time. I 
mailed from New York on the 13th of July, 1867, spent . 
several days of August in Scotland, with Speaker Blaine 
and Senator Morrill, of Vermont, and returned to New 
York on the 9th of the following November — three weeks 
before the beginning of the session of Congress. 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 399 

The books of the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House show 
that, before going, I had assigned several months' pay in 
advance to a banker, who had advanced me money for 
the expenses of the trip. To break the weight of this 
fact, which showed why I came to need a small loan, Mr. 
Ames says I did not go to Europe till nearly two years 
afterward. 

If a reason be sought why he gave such testimony it 
may perhaps be found on the same page from which the 
last quotation is made (page 359) : 

Q. How did you happen to retain that little stray memoran- 
dum ? A. I do not know. I found it in my table two or three 
days afterward. I did not pay any attention to it at the time, 
until I found there was to be a conflict of testimony, and I thought 
that might be something worth preserving. 

How did he find out after that lime that " there was 
to be a conflict of testimony ?" The figures were made 
on that piece of paper January 15, the day after I had 
given my testimony, and four weeks after he had given 
his first testimony. There was no conflict except what 
he himself made ; and that conflict was as marked be- 
tween his first statement and his subsequent ones, as be- 
tween the latter and mine. 

There runs through all this testimony now under con- 
sideration an intimation that I was in a state of alarm, 
was beseeching Mr. Ames " to let me off easily," " to 
say as little about it as possible," " to let it go as a 
loan," "to save my reputation," that I "felt very bad," 
was "in great distress," " hardly knew what I said," and 
other such expressions. 

I should have been wholly devoid of sensibility if I 



400 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

had not felt keenly the suspicions, the false accusations, 
the reckless calumnies with which the public mind was 
filled, while the investigation was in progress. But there 
is not the smallest fragment of truth in the statement, or 
rather the insinuation, that I ever asked or wanted any- 
thing from Mr. Ames on this subject but simple justice 
and the truth. 

The spirit in which a portion of the public treated the 
men whose conduct was being investigated, may be un- 
derstood from the following question, put to Mr. Ames 
(page 361) in the midst of an examination, not at all re- 
lating to me : 

Q. -In that conversation with Mr. Garfield, was anything said 
by him about your being an old man, near the end of your career, 
and his being comparatively a young man ? A. No, sir ; nothing 
of that sort. 

It is manifest that this question was suggested by 
some of the inventive bystanders, in hopes of making an 
item for a new sensation. 

The most absurd and exaggerated statements were 
constantly finding their way into the public press, in 
reference to every subject and person connected with the 
investigation, and this question is an illustration. 

In no communication with Mr. Ames did I ever say 
anything inconsistent with my testimony before the com- 
mittee. 

Conscious that I had done no wrong from the begin- 
ning to the end of this affair, I had nothing to conceal 
and no favors to ask, except that the whole truth should 
be known. I was in the committee-room but once during 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATIOJS. 401 

the investigation, and I went there then only when sum- 
moned to give my testimony. 

CONCLUSIONS. 

From a review of the whole subject, the following con- 
clusions are fairly and cle;irly established : — ■ 

I. That the Crodit Mobilier Company was a State 
corporation regularly organized ; and that neither its 
charter nor the terms of the contract, of October 15, 
1867, disclosed anything which indicated* that the com- 
pany was engaged in any fraudulent or improper enter- 
prise. 

II. That a ring of seven persons inside the Credit 
Mobilier Company, calling themselves trustees, obtained 
the control of the franchises, and of a myjority of the 
stock of both the Credit Mobilier and of the Union Pa- 
cific R.ailroad Company ; and while holding such double 
control, they made a contract with themselves by which 
they received for building the road an extravagant sum, 
greatly beyond the real cost of construction ; and, in ad*- 
justing the payments, they received stock and bonds of 
the railroad company, at a heavy discount, and by these: 
means virtually robbed and plundered the road, which', 
was in great part built by the aid of the United States. 

That these exorbitant profits were distributed, not tO' 
the stockholders of the Credit Mobilier proper, but to the 
ring of seven trustees and their proxies — holders of this^ 
ring stock — and that this arrangement was kept a olose- 
secret by its managers. 

III. That in 1867-68, Mr. Ames offered to sell small i 
amounts of this stock to several leading members of Conr 

26 



402 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

gress, representing it as an ordinary investment promis- 
ing fair profits ; but in every such offer he concealed 
from such members the real nature of the arrangement 
by which the profits were to be made, as well as the 
: amount of dividends likely to be realized. While thus 
• oifering this stock, he was writing to one of his ring 
associates that he was disposing of the stock "where it 
•Avould do most good," intimating that he was thereby 
gaining influence in Congress, to prevent investigation 
into'the affairs of the road. His letters and the list of 
nfimes which he gave to McComb represent many per- 
sons as having bought the stock who never did buy or 
agree to buy it, and also represent a much larger amount 
sold than he did actuallv sell. Mr. Ames's letters and 
testimony abound in contradictions, not only of his own 
statements, but also of the statements of most of the 
other witnesses ; and it is fair, in judging of its credi- 
bility, to take into account his interests involved in the 
controversy. 

i^lV. That in reference to myself the following points 
are clearly established by the evidence : 

1. That I neither purchased nor agreed to purchase 
the 'Credit Mobilier stock which Mr. Ames offered to sell 
me ; nor did 1 receive any dividend arising from it. This 
appears from my own testimony ; and from the first tes- 
timony given by Mr. Ames, which is not overthrown by 
his subsequent statements ; and is strongly confirmed by 
tlie fact that in the case of each of those who did pur- 
chase the stock, there was produced as evidence of the 
5ale, either a certificate of stock, receipt of payment, a 
check drawn in the name of the payee, or entries in Mr. 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 403 

Ames's diary of a stock account marked " adjusted and 
closed ;" but that no one of these evidences exists in 
reference to me. This position is further confirmed by 
the subsequent testimony of Mr. Ames, who, though he 
claims that I did receive $329 from him on account of 
stock, yet he repeatedly testifies that beyond that amount 
I never received or demanded any dividend, that he did 
not offer me any, nor was the subject alluded to in con- 
versation between us. 

Mr. Ames admits, on page 40 of the testimony, that 
after December, 1867, the various stock and bond divi- 
dends, on the stock he had sold, amounted to an aggre- 
gate of more than 800 per cent. ; and that between Jan- 
uary, 1868, and May, 1871, all these dividends were paid 
to iSeveral of those who purchased the stock. My con- 
duct was wholly inconsistent with the supposition of 
such ownership ; for, during the year 1869, I was bor- 
rowing money to build a house here in Washington, and 
was securing my creditors by giving mortgages on my 
property ; and all this time it is admitted that I received 
no dividends and claimed none. 

The attempt to prove a sale of the stock to me is 
wholly inconclusive ; for it rests, first, on a check paya- 
ble to Mr. Ames himself, concerning which he several 
times says he does not know to whom it was paid ; and 
second, upon loose undated entries in his diary, which 
neither prove a sale of the stock nor any payment on 
account of it. 

The only fact from which it is possible for Mr. Ames 
to have inferred an agreement to buy the stock was the 
loan to me of $300. But that loan was made months be- 



404 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

fore the check of June 22, 1868, and was repaid in the 
winter of 1869 ; and after that date there were no trans- 
actions of any sort between us. 

And finally, before the investigation was ended, Mr 
Ames admitted that on the chief point of difference be- 
tween us he might be mistaken. 

On page 356 he said he "considered me the pur- 
chaser of the stock, unless it was borrowed money I had 
of him;" and on page 461, at the conclusion of his last 
testimony, he said : 

Mr. Garfield understands this matter as a loan ; he says I did 
not explain it to him. 

Q. You need not say what Mr. Garfield says. Tell us what 
you think. 

A. Mr. Garfield might have misunderstood me. ... I 
supposed it was like all the rest, but when Mr. Garfield says he 
mistook it for a loan ; that he always understood it to be a loan ; 
that I did not make any explanation to him, and did not make 
any statement to him ; I may be mistaken. I am a man of few 
words, and I may not have made myself understood to him. 

2. That the offer which Mr. Ames made to me, as I 
understood it, was one which involved no wrong or im- 
propriety. I had no means of knowing and had no rea- 
son for supposing that behind this offer to sell me a small 
amount of stock, lay hidden a scheme to defraud the 
Pacific Railroad and imperil the interests of the United 
States. I was not invited to become a party to any 
solieme of spoliation, much less was I aware of any at- 
tempt to influence my legislative action, on any subject 
connected therewith. And on the first intimation of the 
real nature of the case, I declined any further cousidera 
tioQ of the subject. 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. iOS 

3. That whatever may have been the facts in the 
case, I stated them in my testimony as I have always 
understood them; and there has been no contradiction, 
prevarication, or evasion on my part. 

This is demonstrated by the fact that I stated the 
case to Mr. Robison, in the spring of 1868, and to Mr. 
Hinsdale in the autumn of that year, and to Judge Black 
in the v/inter of 1869-70, substantially as it is stated in 
my testimony before the committee. 

I have shown that during the Presidential campaign I 
did not deny having known anything about the Credit 
Mobilier Company ; that the statement published in the 
Cincinnati Gazette, September 15, is substantially in ac- 
cord with my testimony before the committee ; and fi- 
nally that during the progress of the investigation there 
was nothing in my conversation or correspondence with 
Mr. Ames in any way inconsistent with the facts as given^ 
in my testimony. To sum it up in a word : out of an un- 
in^portant business transaction, the loan of a trifling sum 
of money, as a matter of personal accommodation, and out 
of an offer never accepted, has arisen this enormous fabric 
of accusation and suspicion. 

If there be a citizen of the United States who is wil- 
ling to believe that for $329 I have bartered away my 
good name, and to falsehood have added perjury, these 
pages are not addressed to him. If there be one who 
thinks that any part of my public life has been gauged on 
60 low a level as these charges would place it, I do not 
address him. I address those who are willing to believe 
that it is possible for a man to serve the public without 
personal dishonor. I have endeavored in this review, to 



406 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

point out the means bj whicli the managers of a corpora 

tion, wearing the garb of honorable industry, have robbed 

and defrauded a great national enterprise, and attempted, 

by cunning and deception, for selfish ends, to enlist in its 

interest those who would have been the fiirst to crush the 

attempt had their objects been known. 

If any of the scheming corporations or corrupt rings 

that have done so much to disgrace the country by their 

attempts to control its legislation, have ever found in mo 

a conscious supporter or ally in any dishonorable scheme, 

they are at full liberty to disclose it. In the discussion 

of the many grave and difficult questions of public policy 

which have occupied the thoughts of the nation during 

the last twelve years, I have borne some part ; and I 

confidently appeal to the public records for a vindication 

of my conduct. 

JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

If anythni^ were needed to add weight to the above 
masterly defence it would be found in the following 
letter from Judge Poland, of Vermont, to ex-Governor 
Ryland Fletcher, of the same State. Judge Poland, it 
will be remembered, was the chairman of the Credit 
Mobilier Investigating Committee : 

" St. Johnsburt, Vt., July 2, 1880. 
" I have mislaid or lost my copy of the evidence 
taken by the Credit Mobilier Investigating Committee 
and their report, and although I have a very clear recol- 
lection of the general features of the whole matter, I 
should not attempt to say anything in regard to details 
without a re-perusal of the volume. But if I had it 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 407 

before me, it does not seem to me that there is occasion 
or need that I should review it for the purpose of reply- 
ing to such attacks on General Garfield as you have 
copied from the New York Express, or simiLir ones 
which may be found in many other Democratic papers 
The transactions of Mr. Ames in Credit Mobilier stock 
were more than a dozen years ago; the full investigation 
of the matter by the committee of which I was chairman 
was over ei2:ht years aso. At the time of the investio;;!- 

Oft/*—' o 

tion the public mind was greatly excited on the subject, 
and it involved the character and reputation of so many 
prominent men that probably no mere personal matter 
ever was so thoroughly canvassed and discussed by the 
reading and intelligent people of the country. After the 
most exhaustive discussion and reflection, the judgment 
of the people of this country was made up as to each 
man who was named as connected with it. Saying 
nothing in regard to any other man, I think I may most 
truthlully say that this public and popular judgment 
fully and absolutely acquitted General Garfield of all 
wrong, either in act or intent, in relation to the matter. 
No man could have been continued in public life, and 
constantly risen in public standing and in the public 
estimation, by the consent and approval of the best 
men of both parties, as General Garfield has, if there 
existed a suspicion of wrong-doing against him. I re- 
gard this popular and continued verdict of the people 
as conclusive. Every effort to reopen and unsettle it 
will, in my judgment, only reeoil upon those who at- 
tempt it. In my judgment, the Hepublican press and 
Republican speakers who may spend their time in re- 



i08 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

arguing a matter so miiny years ago passed into final 
judgment will only waste their breath. The great is- 
sues between the parties, which so largely affect the 
welfare of the people and the country, are the topics 
to be discussed and decided in the coming campaign. 
These are what the people desire to be enlightened 
upon; they are already satisfied that the $329 case 
was finally and properly decided many years ago. I 
presume you have seen a short note I sent to the State 
Convention. In that I said all I wished to say. 

" Luke P. Poland." 

Another charge brought against General Garfield 
was that in 1872 he received a fee of five thousand dol- 
lars for securing an appropriation in favor of a certain 
contract for paving certain streets of Washington City. 
This contract was in favor of what is known as the De 
Golyer pavement. At this time General Garfield was 
chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, and it was 
charged that he was paid this sum to secure his influence 
for the De Golyer Company. The truth was that the 
fee was paid him for services rendered as a lawyer, after 
the adjournment of Congress, and had no connection 
whatever with the appropriation granted by Congress. 
Grave charges having been brought against the De Gol- 
yer company, the House of Representatives appointed a 
committee to investigate the matter. Before this com- 
mittee General Garfield appeared in February, 1879, and 
made the following statement which explains his true 
connection with the matter, and places the fixcts in the 
case so fairly and plainly before the public that the most 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 409 

inveterate enemy must, if honest, acknowledge the suc- 
cess of his vindication, and acquit him of either intentional 
or actual wrong-doing. 

" Mr. Garfield. — Mr, Chairman, I never saw this con- 
tract before, but I want to say a word in regard to the 
word ' appropriation' use.l in it. It has no more refer- 
ence to Congress than it has to Great Britain. The 
Board of Public Works, under the general law and the 
legislation of the District government, made the appro- 
priations themselves, and taxed the people of the Dis- 
trict along the streets where these improvements were 
made, by the front foot; and I in common with other 
property-holders of the District, paid my assessment 
levied by the Board of Public Works for the improve- 
ments made in front of my property ; and the appropria- 
tion here referred to is the appropriation by the District 
government, either out of the funds that it had raised by 
bonds issued on the credit of the District or by assess- 
ments by the District authorities upon the people whose 
properly was improved. The only connection that the 
United States had with it in reference to appropriations 
vas this : — Whenever the Board of Public Works laid 
a pavement on a street upon which any United States 
building or ground was situated, Congress, as a matter of 
course, as it does in every other city of the Union, paid its 
quota of the assessment per front foot. That is the only 
relation that Congress had to any of these improvements, 
except in so Oir as we have been compelled subsequently 
to advance money to pay the interest on their bonds 
which of course was a matter that nobody could have 
foreseen. 



410 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

" Mr. Nickerson. — Allow me to ask you a question 

"Mr. Garfield.— Certainly. 

" Mr. Nickerson. — In view of your explanation, I ask 
you to state what this provision in this award in relation 
to that fift}^ thousand square yards refers to — what ap- 
propriation that refers to, around the parks or anywhere 
else ? 

"Mr. Garfield. — I cannot be expected to expLiin the 
language of this contract which I have never seen, but if 
the chairman will look at the Appropriation Bill, espe- 
cially in 1873, he will find that there were three appro- 
priations made ; one ($180,000, I think) to reimburse 
the old Washington corporation previous to the creation 
of the Board of Public Works, for work that was done 
around the Government reservation. The old canal had 
been filled up and the Smithsonian grounds had been 
bettered by that improvement, and there was an appro- 
priation to reimburse the old corporation for that part of 
their improvements which hiy opposite the public grounds 
of the United States ; and in the same bill there was also 
an appropriation made to reimburse the Board of Public 
Works for the Government's share of the improvements 
made in front of the public buildings and grounds. 

" The Chairman. — Do you recollect the amount of 
that appropriation ? 

"Mr. Garfield.— I think it was about $180,000. I 
ought to say, however, that that was put on, not in the 
House but in the Senate. I was not on the conference ; 
I had nothing to do with it. It was perfectly right if 1 
had been on the committee, but I was not. That had no 
more to do with anybody's pavement, or with any par- 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 411 

ticular contract for any particular patent or pavement, 
than with the man in the moon. 

" Mr. Nickerson. — You haven't answered my question. 
If your explanation is correct, can you say why it is 
that that 50,000 square yards is made absolutely contin- 
gent upon an appropriation to be made by Congress ? 
That is a matter that would necessarily come directly 
before Congress. 

*' Mr. Garfield. — Not at all. It would come from the 
appropriation of the district authorities. Mr. Chairman, 
I never saw this contract before in my life, and I had 
nothing whatever to do with its terms, and therefore I 
am not responsible for any meaning that anybody may 
attribute to its language. 

"Now, the whole story is plainly and briefly told. A 
day or two before the adjournment of the Congress which 
adjourned in the Litter part of May or the first part of 
June, 1872, Richard C. Parsons, who was a practising 
lawyer in Cleveland, but was then the Marshal of the 
Supreme Court, and an old acquaintance of mine, came 
to my house and said that he was culled away summarily 
by important business ; that he was retained in a case on 
which he had spent a great deal of time, and that there 
was but one thing remaining to be done, to make a brief 
of the relative merits of a large number of wooden pave- 
ments ; that the Board of Public Works had agreed that 
they would put down a certain amount of concrete, and a 
certain amount of other kinds of pavement; that they 
had fixed the price at which they would put down each 
of Ihe different kinds, and that the only thing remaining 
was to determine which was the best pavement of each 



412 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

of the several kinds. He said he should lose his fee 
unless the brief on the merits of these pavements was 
made, and that he was suddenly and necessarily called 
away home ; and he* asked me to prepare the brief. He 
brought his papers to my house and models of the pave- 
ment. I told him I could not look at the case until the 
end of the session. When Congress adjourned I sat down 
to the case, in the most open manner, as I would prepare 
a brief for the Supreme Court, and worked upon this 
matter. There were perhaps forty kinds of wood pave- 
ment and several chemical analyses of the ingredients of 
tiie different pavements. I went over the whole ground 
carefully and thoroughly, and prepared a brief on the 
relative claims of these pavements for the consideration 
of the board. This was all I did. I had nothing to do 
with the terms of the contract, I knew nothing of its 
conditions, and I never had a word to say about the con- 
ditions, and I never had a word to say about the price of 
the pavement. I knew nothing about it ; I simply made 
a brief upon the relative merits of the various patent 
pavements ; and it no more occurred to me that the 
thing I was doing had rehition to a ring, or to a body of 
men connected with any scheme, or in any way connected 
with Congress, or related in any way to any of my duties 
\n connection with the Committee on Appropriations, than 
it occurred to me that it was interfering with your per- 
sonal rights as an'citizen. I prepared the brief and went 
liome. Mr. Parsons subsequently sent me a portion of his 
)wn fee. A year later, when the affairs of the District 
of Columbia came to be overhauled, Congress became 
satisfied that the government of the District had better 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 41 



o 



be abolished, and this whole matter was very thoroughly 
investigated by a committee of the two Houses. They 
went into the question of the merits of the pavement, 
some claiming that it was bad, and some claiming that 
the Government had paid too much for it. Mr. Chitten- 
den was called as a witness. I ought to say here that I 
never saw Mr. Chittenden until about the time I made 
the brief; I did not and do not know De Golyer and 
McClelland ; I would not know them on the street; I am 
not aware that I ever saw Mr. Nickerson before ; and if 
anybody in this business had any scheme relating to me, 
it was never mentioned to me in the remotest way. It 
never was suggested to me that this matter could relate 
to my duties as a member of Congress in any way what- 
ever. All that I did was done openly. Everybody who 
called on me could have seen what I was doing, and if 
there was any intention or puri)Ose on the part of any- 
body to connect me in any way with any ring or any 
dishonorable scheme it was sedulously concealed from me. 
As I have said, three years ago a joint conuniltee of the 
two Houses investigated this matter thoroughly. Mr. 
Parsons was summoned, and was examined, and cross-ex- 
amined ; Mr. Chittenden was examined; Mr. Nickerson 
was examined. When I heard that my name was b^.'ing 
used in the matter, I went to the chairmen on both sides 

for it was a joint committee. Senator Thurman, of my 

own State, was on the committee; Mr. Jewett, now 
President of the Erie Uailway, was on the committee. 1 
said to the chairmen that, if there was anything in con- 
nection with the case which reflected upon me, and tliat 
they thought I ought to answer, 1 would be obli-ed to 



Hi JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

them if they would inform me. The chairman on the 
part of the House, Mr. Wilson, said that he had looked 
the matter all over, and that what I had done was per- 
fectly proper ; hut if anything should occur to make any 
explanation necessary, I could appear before the commit- 
tee ; he would send me word. He never did send for me. 
Very soon after that my political campaign in Ohio opened. 
" Every man in public life is blessed with enemies as 
well as friends ; and no sooner had my campaign opened 
than the New York JSun published thirteen columns, I 
believe, containing almost every form of public and private 
assault upon me, among other things quoting this testi- 
mony in such a way as to make it appear that what I 
had done compromised my position as Chairman of the 
Committee on Appropriations. I went before the people 
of my district and discussed the whole matter; and in a 
speech which was printed and circulated by thousands, 
every part and parcel of this charge was made as public 
as anything could be. It was revived to some extent in 
the campaign last fall, and all possible Dew light thrown 
upon it. In the course of the campaign of 1874 a gentle- 
man from my district wrote in regard to it to Mr. Wilson, 
the chairman of the joint committee on the part of the 
House, and received a letter in reply, which I read : — 

** '' CONNELLSVILLE, Iiid., Aug. 1, 1874. 

" ' Hon. George W. Steele — Dear Sir : — To the re- 
quest for information as to whether or not the action of 
General Garfield, in connection with the affairs of the 
District of Columbia, was the subject of condemnation in 
Ihe committee that recently had those affairs under con- 



CREDIT MOBILIEIl TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 415 

sideration, I answer that it was not ; nor was there, in my 
opinion, any evidence that wouhl have warranted any un- 
favorable criticism upon his conduct. 

" ' The facts disclosed by the evidence, so far as he is 
concerned, are briefly these : 

" ' The Board of Public Works was considering the 
question as to the kind of pavements that should be laid. 
There w^as a contest as to the respective merits of va- 
rious wooden pavements. Mr. Parsons represented, as 
attorney, the De Golyer and McClollan patent, and being 
called away from Washington about the time the hearing 
was to be had before the Board of Public Works on this 
subject, procured General Garfield to appear before the 
board in his stead and argue the merits of his patent. 
This he did, and this was the whole of his connection in 
the matter. It was not a question as to the kind of con- 
tract that should be made, but as to whether this particu- 
lar kind of pavement should be laid. The criticism of the 
committee was not upon the pavement in favor of which 
General Garfield argued, but was upon the contract made 
with reference to it; and there was no evidence which 
would warrant the conclusion that he had anything to do 
with the latter. Very respectfully, etc., 

" ' J. M. Wilson.' 

" I want to say this, further : That if anybody in the ; 
world holds that my fee in connection with this pavement, 
even by suggestion or implication, had any relation what- 
ever to any appropriation by Congress for anything con- 
nected with the District, or with anything else, it is due 
to me, it is due to this committee, and it is due to Con- 



416 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

gress, that that person be summoned. If there be a man 
on this earth who makes such a charge, that man is the 
most infamous perjurer that lives, and I shall be glad to 
confront him anywhere in this world. I am quite sure 
this committee will not allow hearsay and contradictory 
testimony to raise a presumption against me. Now, I 
will say very frankly to the committee that, if I had 
known or imngined that there was an intent such as this 
A'itness insinuates, on the pnrt of anybody, that my em- 
ployment by a brother lawyer to prepare a brief on a 
perfectly legitimate question — a question of the relative 
merits of certain lawful patents — had any connection 
whatever, or any supposed connection in the mind of any 
man, with my public duties, I certainly would have taken 
no such engngement. I would have been a weak and 
very foolish man to have done so, and I trust that gentle- 
men who know me will believe that I would at least have 
had too much respect for my own ambition to have done 
such a thing. 

" By the Chairman — Q. What was the amount that 
Mr. Parsons did pay you of his fee ? A. Five thousand 
dollars. I do not think he mentioned any sum at the 
time he asked me to make the argument. He said that 
he was to receive a Lirge fee, and he would share it with 
me. 1 am not sure that he then mentioned the amount, 
or what he would pay me, but he said that the fee was a 
large one, and that there was a hirge amount involved. 
When 1 made the argument I went home to Ohio, and 
some time in the month of July, I think, or perhaps a 
month afterwards, Mr. Parsons deposited in bank to my 
credit $5,000. 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 417 

By Mr. Culbertson — Q. Who paid those fees. A. I 
ilo not know. I never knew anything about that at all. 
Mr. Parsons engaged me. Nobody else spoke to me 
about it. The only relation I had to it at all was with 
him. Mr. Parsons' testimony on the subject is very full, 
and is true, as I remember it. 

" By the Chairman — Q. Did Mr. Parsons say to you 
that his fee or yours would be contingent on the award of 
a contract for 200,000 square yards of pavement? A. Oh, 
no, sir ; I do not think he said that. He said : ' I am in 
danger of losing an important fee unless I make this argu- 
ment, and I cannot do it; I must go away, and I will pay 
you a share of what I get if you will make the brief.' I 
don't remember that he said whether it was contingent or 
absolute. I simply acted on his request. 

" Q. Your brief was made and filed ? A. Certainly. 
I labored over the case a good many days. I remember 
among other papers which I examined were some pam- 
phlets giving an account of the working of this pavement 
in California, and, I think, in Chicago. There were two 
or three chemical analyses of the materials used I had 
to examine ; I think nearly forty of the different patents. 
The understanding was that the merits of the different 
competing pavements were to be laid before the board 
in order that they might determine their relative merits. 
I do not think I knew anything about the price that was 
to be paid per square yard ; certainly it was none of my 
affair ; I had nothing to do with it or to say about it. 

*' By Mr. Pratt — Q. It was not involved in the 
question submitted to you ? A. It was not involved 
in the question at all, because, as I understood, the 

27 



418 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

Board of Engineers had beforehand determined that for 
wood pnvements they would pay so much, for concrete 
so much, and for other kinds so much. The property- 
hoMers on a street made a request for whichever pave- 
ment they preferred — concrete, Belgian, or wooden — and, 
when the petitions of the property-holders were filed 
with the board, they gave the different streets the kinds 
of jiavement asked for by the people. 

'' By the Chairman — Q. Had you any knowledge at 
the time that the Advisory Board had passed a condem- 
natoiy judgment upon this ? A. I had not, nor have I 
now. I only knew that there was a considerable amount 
of wooden pavement to be laid, because the citizens 
had asked for it. I had no knowledge of the matter 
except what I had got from the papers before me. I 
reciiUect among other things, that it was certified from 
the Board of Public Works of Chicago that this pave- 
ment had stood there better than any other wooden 
pavement they had ever had, and I believe there was 
similar testimony from the city authorities of San Fran- 
cisco. 

" Q. Had you any previous knowledge as an expert 
in the qualities of different pavements ? A. I had had 
cousulerable experience in patents and patent law gen- 
eraJly ; 1 had been engaged in the Goodyear rubber case 
in tiie Supreme Court, and I was familiar with patent 
law. 1 have been practising in the Supreme Court here 
since 1806; I do practice constantly, as much as my 
public duties allow. 

" Q. Do you recollect whether at the subsequent 
session of Congress there was $1,200,000 appropriated 



CREDIT MOBILIER TRIUMPHANT VINDICATION. 411? 

for the Board of Public Works ? A. I remember thai 
fhere was a large appropriation made for improven)ents 
made by the Board of Public Works in front of the 
public buildings and grounds, but none was made for 
any particular pavement or contract. I do not remem- 
ber how large the appropriation was, for it was put on 
in the Senate, in the last hours of the session, while I 
was on a conference on the unfortunate salary bill, and 
was adopted while I was out, and I knew nothing at all 
about its origin or' progress. I know that in one of the 
bills that I had charge of at about that time there was 
a restrictive clause upon the board inserted, because we 
thought it had begun to do too much. 

" The Chairman.— I don't think, Mr. Garfield, that it 
has been testified here, directly, that any proposition, 
in so many words, was made to you in relation to any 
appropriation made by Congress, but there have been 
put in evidence here extracts from letters, which were 
written by Chittenden from this city to De Golyer and 
McClelland, after interviews with you. 

" Mr. Garfield. — Of course, Mr. Chairman, you will 
see the utter impossibility of one man being made re- 
sponsible for what another man writes about him. I 
cannot, of course, say what has been written about me. 
If I had it all before me, it would be a very mixed 
chapter, I have no doubt, as it would be in the case of 
any of us. 

" The Chairman. — There has been no dii'ect testi- 
mony that any such proposition was ever made to you. 

" Mr. Garfield. — If there is any testimony of that sort 
it is false, and I shall be obliged if you will let me know." 



CHAPTER X. 

THE CHICAGO CONVENTION.— GENERAL GARFIELD NOMINATEE 
FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The Chicago Convention-Description of the Hall-General Garfield a Del- 
egate from Ohio-Cordial Reception by the Convention-Opening of 
the Proceedings-The First Day's Work-Events of the Second Day- 
The Struggle between Grant and Blaine-Parliamentary Skirmishing- 
Proceedings of the Third Day- Report of the Committee on Credentia . 
-The Evening Session-The Fight over Illinois-The Fourth Day s 
SesBion-The Grant Lines show Signs of Weakness-Garfields Mas 
terly Management of the Ohio Delegation-Domination of Candidates 
-Blaine and Grant Presented-General Garfield Nominates John Sher- 
nian-A Noble Speech-The Fifth Day's Session-Balloting for the 
Presidential Candidates-A Stubborn Fight-A Detailed Statement of 
the Ballots-The Si^th and Last Day-Wisconsin Votes for Garfield- 
The General endear«r« to Stop the Movement in ^\^^''^'-^^'' ^""Z. 
Buccessful-The Break to Garfield-The Thirty-si.th Ballot-Garfield 
Nominated for the Presidency-Exciting Scenes in the Convention- 
The Nomination Made Unanimous-Nomination o Vice-President- 
How Garfield's Nomination was brought about-Platform of the Re 
publican Party for 1880. 

The National Conyention of the RepubUcan party met 
at Chicago, on the 2d of June, 1880. General Garfield 
attended it as the leader of the delegation from Ohio. 

The place of meeting was the large hall of the Ex- 
position Building. The correspondent of the New York 
Herald said of it on the day the convention assembled : 

" The entire building is divided into sections— A, B 



CHICAGO CONVENTION NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT. 421 

C, and so on. Eiicli section has its door, each door its 
official, each official the Chicago courtesy, passing which, 
the visitor finds himself in a hall 300 feet long and 15a) 
feet wide. The platform is in the south end and the 
seats for delegates and alternates on the main floor run- 
ning from the platform back about two hundred feet. 
On the other side of this, and running entirely round the 
building, are commodious galleries capable of seating in 
the neighborhood of nine thousand people. This, with 
the space for delegates, gives a seating capacity of be- 
tween ten thousand and eleven thousand persons. The 
crowd outside is immense, and has been since early 
morning ; but as the rules of admission are rigidly en- 
forced the outsiders are compelled to content themselves 
with cheers iind shouts and an occasional growl. The 
delegations which had been bothered beyond conception 
in getting tickets of admission were very slow in arriving. 
At lialf-past eleven there was no one in the hall beyond 
a large and very active band and a few enterprising cor- 
respondents who remembered the luck of the early bird. 

" Little banners, shield-shaped, with Alabama, Ari- 
zona, and so on, printed on them, indicated the situation 
of each delegation. The A's sat in the front benches, 
and the rest of the alphabet followed seriatim. The con- 
sequence is that Texas, West Virginia, and the other low 
down letters are much nearer the band and the rear than 
they fancy. To compare it with Madison Square Garden, 
imagine the stage placed at the Madison Avenue end and 
benches placed on the floor back to the cascade, where 
the band forms the 1 wer line of a high stretch of seats 
for the public. The Alabama delegates are in the uppei 



122 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

left-hand corner, having all of seat 1 and part of seal 
22. Then follow, in order, down the left side, including 
all of the first row and a portion of the second, Arkan- 
sas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, 
Georgia, and Illinois, ending with Indiana in the lowei 
left corner. Iowa commences with the right end ol 
No. 45 and left end of No. 69. Then, in order, Kan- 
sas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachu- 
setts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, ending 
with Arizona, and the District of Columbia on seat No. 
46. Nebraska commences on No. 70, then follow down 
Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, 
Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Dakota, Idaho 
and Montma, ending with New Mexico on No. 93. 
Utah is on the lower right corner. Then follow up on the 
right side, in order, Washington Territory, Texas, Penn- 
sylvania, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, 
ending with Wisconsin in upper riglit corner on seat No. 
96. Alternates are arranged in strictly alphabetical 
order. Commencing with Alabama, on seat No. 115, 
they follow down to No. 144, then commence with No. 
174, running up to No, 145. Next comes No. 175, run- 
ning down to No. 204, where the Wisconsin alternates 
will be seated." 

General Garfield's appearance in the Convention was 
greeted with enthusiastic applause from the delegates 
and the audience. After the organization of the Con- 
vention he was appointed one of the Cornniittee on Rule6 
This appointment was received with applause. A de- 
spatch to the New York Herald from Chicago that night, 
eaid: 



CHICAGO CONVENTION NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT, 423 

" The name of General Garfield is also assuming 
[ rominence as a possible nomination of the Ohio delega- 
tion, should it be necessary to withdraw the name of Mr. 
Sherman. General Garfield will present the name of Mr. 
Sherman, and his speech and manner, it is thought, wiK 
make a very favorable impression on the Convention. 
The applause which greeted the name to-day when it was 
announced that he had been selected by the Ohio delega- 
tion to serve in the Committee on Rules was a marked 
compliment to him, which has not been forgotten to-night 
in the calculations of the thoughtful men." 

The hour appointed for the meeting of the Conven- 
tion was twelve o'clock Wednesday, June 2, 1880. " The 
Alabama delegation," says Mr. A. K. McClure, writing 
to the Philadelphia Times, " was first to file in as a body, 
and its two rows of President-makers nestled down in 
front of the stage, displaying every shade of complex- 
ion, from the pure white to the genuine African. Arkan- 
sas fell in greatly behind Alabama, with the familiar face 
of ex-Senator Dorsey at the head. Meantime the places 
allotted to the various States were being rapidly filled up 
by the rank and file of the delegations. But the leaders 
were slow in getting to their respective commands. The 
dignitaries who had been assigned to the seats for dis- 
tinguished guests began to swarm in, and Frye, of Maine, 
and Chandler, of New Hampshire, buzzed them as they 
gathered in little knots to discuss the situation. General 
Beaver, chairman of the Pennsylvania delegation, swung 
himself along the side aisle on his crutches and sat down 
at the post of honor for his State, with Quay close by his 
aide, and Cessna flitted hither and thither as if uncer- 



424 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

tain that anything would be well done unless he gave it 
a helping hand. McManes dropped in late, a little paled 
by illness, but with all his Scotch-Irish doggedness writ- 
ten in his face. Jewell and Ores well, both of the Grant 
cabinet, came in about the same time, the first hoping to 
look down on the defeat of his old chief from the gallery 
of distinguished guests, and the other marshalling his 
delegation to give him back his Old Commander. 

" Both look fresh and rosy as they did when they 
hugged their portfolios and enjoyed the hollow homage 
that is paid to honor at the Capital. The tall, sturdy 
form of * Long John ' Wentworth towered over all as he 
joined his delegation. He is stouter, redder, grayer and 
balder than eight years ago, when he rebelled against 
Grant. He has returned to his first love, and now wilts 
down his collars early in the morning working and cheer 
ing for the Silent Man. 

" Just when the building had pretty nearly filled up 
there was a simultaneous huzzah throughout the hall and 
galleries, and it speedily broke out in a hearty applause. 
The tall and now silvered plume of Conkling was visible 
in the aisle, and he strode down to his place at the head 
of his delegation with tiie majesty of an emperor. He 
recognized the compliment by a modest bow, without lift- 
ing his eyes to the audience, and took his seat as serenely 
as if on a picnic and holiday. He has aged rapidly dur- 
ing the last year, and his once golden locks are thinned 
and whitened, while hard lines dispel the brightness of his 
finely-chiselled face. The Grant men seemed to be more 
comfortable when they found him by their side and evi 
dently ready for the conflict. The sable Grant men from 



CHICAGO CONVENTION — NOxMINATED FOR PRESIDENT. 425 

the South, who believe Grant to be their political savior 
look upon Coiikling as his prophet, and they worship him 
as a demigod. Logan's swarthy features, flowing mous- 
tache and Indian hair were next visible on the eastern 
aisle, but he stepped to the head of his delegation so 
quietly that he escaped a special welcome. He sat aa if 
ill sober reflection for a few moments and then hastened 
over to Conkling to perfect their counsel on the eve of 
battle. The two senatorial leaders held close conference 
until the bustle about the chair gave notice that the op- 
posing lines were about to begin to feel each other and 
test their position. 

'' Cameron had just stepped upon the platform with 
the elasticity of a boy, and his youthful but strongly- 
marked face was recognized at once. There was no ap- 
plause. They all knew that he never plays for the gal- 
leries and that cheers are wasted upon him. The man 
who can bring him votes when he is in want of them can 
make his cold gray eyes kindle and his usually stolid 
features toy with a smile, but no man in the land more 
justly estimates the crowd that ever cheers the coming 
guest than does Cameron. He quietly sat down for ten 
minutes, although the time for calling the convention to 
order had passed by an hour, and he looked out upon the 
body so big with destiny for himself and his Grant asso- 
ciates. Passing by I asked him : ' What of the battle V' 
To which he answered : ' We have three hundred to start 
with, and we will stick until we win.' 

" It was said with all the determination that his posi- 
tive manner and expression could add to language, and it 
summed up his whole strategy. While he waited the 



jl:26 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

vacant places were fast filling up. Generals Sewell and 
Kilpatrick took their posts at the head of the New Jersey 
men, and just behind them the rosy faces of Garfield an 1 
Foster and the tall, spare form of Dennison were holding 
a hasty last council of the Sherman wing of the opposi- 
tion. The youthful olive-shaded features of Bruce, ol 
Mississippi, were visible in the centre of his delegation, 
and the dream of the Vice-Presidency made -him restless 
and anxious. 

"At five minutes after one Cameron quickly rose 
from his chair, advanced to the front and brought his 
gavel down gently upon the speaker s desk. At once the 
confused hum of voices began to still, and the nearly ten 
thousand people present settled into perfect order. Cam- 
eron stood for 'half a minute after silence had been ob- 
tained, apparently free from all embarrassment, and 
finallv said, in a clear voice : 

" ' The convention will come to order, and will be 
opened with prayer/ 

" The prayer followed, and was a very satisfactory 
test of the acoustic qualities of the hall. Then followed 
the reading of the call by Secretary Keogh, when Cam- 
eron enlisted the utmost attention by adjusting his eye- 
glasses and drawing from his coat-pocket a single sheet of 
foolscap pMper. All knew that he would speak briefly, if 
at all, and that if he had anything to say he would say it 
with directness, and none were mistaken. In a speech of 
not over two minutes he got in some most telling blows 
for Grant, which were warmly cheered. He read his 
speech, and the delivery was clear and forcible. 

" He closed by nominating Hoar for temporary chair 



CHIOAOO CONVENTION— NOMINATED FOE PRESIDENT. 421 

man and put the question at once, and the unanimous ap- 
proval of the convention, as evinced by its mingled votes 
and cheers, transferred the organization of the body to 
the anti-third-term combination. They breathed more 
freely when they saw Cameron out of the chair and Hoar 
in his place. But Cameron retired complacently, and both 
sides seemed to understand that victory to either depend- 
ed upon the skill or accidents of future conflicts. Sen- 
ator Hoar s benignant face and clerical cloth of the mod- 
ern Puritan pattern were presented to the convention 
and hearty applause greeted them. Mr. Hoar delivered 
an appropriate address, which was well received, and the 
work of the convention began. ^ ^ 

" Hale of Maine, first took the floor as Blame s chief 
lieutenant' Every one waited eagerly to hear whether he 
^vas about to open the battle, but he simply offered the 
usual resolutions for a call of States to report committee- 
men. Routine business dragged along for some time, 
when Frye, of Maine, arose on the platforn. and called 
attention to the omission of Utah from the committee on 
credentials. Ue is Hale's fellow-leader of the Blaine men, 
and he is a Quent and skilful debater. His motion to 
have Utah represented in the committee was soon under- 
stood to be an attack on a vital part of tbe Graut line. 
As Conkling rose in his majestic and peaceful way to re- 
ply, a storm of applause welcomed him as the -leader of 
leaders.' He at once locked horns with the gritty Blame 
...dvocate. He made a most plausible special plea lor the 
omission of Utah along with Louisiana, but Frye camo 
back with the statement of the secretary of the National 
Committee that the omission was an accident and a mis- 



i28 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

take, and called out the ever-ready enthusiasm of the 
Blaine side. Conkling saw that his position was untena- 
ble, and he fell back in excellent order. The fiery Logan 
mounted his chair and offered a resolution for the admis- 
sion of the five hundred veteran soldiers who are attend- 
ing the convention. He knows just how to make a clap- 
trap speech for the veterans, and as they are generally 
Grant men, who were brought here to help the cause 
along, he played his veteran card for all that was in it. 
General Kilpatrick, who loves to speak on all questions, 
and especially on behalf of the soldiers, seconded Logan's 
effort. The anti-Grant men did not dare to offer opposi- 
tion to the Grant reserves, for the galleries and Logan car- 
ried his motion, with generous applause from the Grant 
men. 

" That ended the skirmishing in the field for the day, 
and Conkling hastened an adjournment until to-morrow at 
eleven o'clock without a contest. The battle was then 
transferred back to the lobbies of the hotels. 

" The convention reassembled at eleven o'clock on the 
morning of the 3d of June. Conkling strode majestically 
down the aisle, bowed to the cheers which greeted him on 
every side, and the smile that played upon his face told 
that his antagonists, with a clear majority against him, 
had given him another day to lash them and a chance to 
return them defeat for their blunder. Cameron was with 
his delegation on the floor, as were Logan, Cress well, and 
Boutwell, and they all displayed the self-satisfaction of 
repulsed chieftains who felt confident of fearfully punish- 
ing if not routing the Blaine men before the battle closed. 
Hamlin's dark face deepened the lines of age by the anx* 



CHICAGO CONVENTION NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT. 429 

•e^y that he could not conceal about the result of a battle 
tliat had to be fought for a day in skirmishes against 
superior strategists. A general engagement would give 
them certain victory if it could be forced at once. Fryo 
and Hale were nervous and fretful under their now visible 
mistake, and attempted to relieve their error only to be 
defeated by Garfield finally coming in against their un- 
protected flank. After they had forced him into the ac- 
tion Conkling opened what he knew could be only an 
affair of outposts and one in which he must suifer least. 
With utmost coolness and all the air of a master he rose 
and moved a recess until six o'clock, giving the plausible 
reasons that the committee on credentials could not report 
earlier than four, and that the convention should not at- 
tempt any important business until its membership was 
ascertained. Hale sprang to his feet to grapple with the 
half-vanquished but yet fearfully dangerous Grant cham- 
pion. He pleaded against delay, and quoted the prece- 
dent of Cincinnati in 1876, when the committees on rules 
and organization reported before the committee on cre- 
dentials. He spoke well, but illy concealed the knowl- 
edge that Conkling was seeking to profit as large and as 
conspicuously as possible by a Blaine blunder. 

" Conkling s reply was masterly in its unexpressed 
contempt and scathing sarcasm. His keen arrow struck 
just where he had aimed it, and Hale's irritation broke his 
voice so that his reply was unimpressive. Bat he got in 
a parting shot at his antagonist that allowed him to cover 
his retreat in a storm of applause. Both exhibited the 
utmost bitterness, but Conkling's polished oratory made 
even his venom sublime. Hale won on the first vote bv 



430 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

•Jefeating Conkling's motion, and while the now growing 
Blaine enthusiasm shouted over the victory, Conkling 
smiled and coolly waited his time, that he knew was 
near at hand. The report of the committee on organiza- 
tion was made and disposed of in a few minutes. When 
they came to the front to retrieve the Blaine folly of de- 
laying the committee on credentials, by moving that the 
committee on rules be instructed to report, both sides 
knew what the report was, and that it contained one rule 
limiting speakers to five minutes. If they could carry 
that report, before the report of the committee on con- 
tested seats, the blunder of delay would be partially cor- 
rected, as it would prevent the debate against time that 
the Grant men mean to make on the disputed delegations. 
Logan tried to drive Frye back by points of order, but 
failed, and when General Sharpe, the New York member 
of the committee, said that he was instructed to make 
a minority report, and that the committee had voted to 
withhold the majority report until after the contested 
seats were disposed of, Conkling's grim smile told how he 
enjoyed Frye's discomfiture. But they foolishly appealed 
to General Garfield, chairman of the committee, and Gar- 
field was compelled, but with evident reluctance, to sus- 
tain the statements made by General Sharpe. Frye waa 
now completely unhorsed, and had to withdraw his own 
motion, and followed it with a motion to adjourn until five 
o'clock. 

" This brought Conkling to his feet to enjoy his vic- 
tory, and, in one of his grandest flights of irony, • he 
congratulated the Maine man on having kept ten thou- 
sand people in uncomfortable seats for two hours to ao- 



CHICAGO CONVENTION NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT. 431 

jomplish just what he proposed to accomplish when the 
convention met. All of Conkling's bitterness was thrown 
into his effort to portray the littleness of Blaine's leaders, 
and he sat down amidst thunders of applause. The v.-ist 
audience had seen the first blood drawn by the gladiator 
and they wanted more. They called for Frye and Hale 
until Frye mounted his chair for a farewell broadside at 
his dreaded antagotnst, and he got it in neatly and stopped 
at the right point. With a good imitation of Conkling's 
patronizing manner, he returned the thanks of the Maine 
delegation to the gentleman from New York for his con- 
gratulations, and he added that he hoped when the work 
of the convention shall have been concluded, Mr. Conk- 
ling would send his congratulations to the gentleman 
from Maine. It was a fair hit, and even Conkling joined 
the audience in its shouts of laughter. The convention 
then adjourned. 

" When it reassembled at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, 
it was announced that the committee on contested seats 
would not be ready to report until late in the evening. 
This fretted tlie Blaine leaders, who have held the 
Grant men as the under-dogs all day, and had the gal- 
leries fully impressed with the belief that Blaine would 
be nominated as soon as a vote could be reached. They 
felt that they had blundered by delay, and they plunged 
in to multiply their blunders, in the vain hope that they 
could recover their lost opportunity. Henderson, of Iowa, 
opened the Blaine fire by renewing Frye's motion of tiie 
morning session to instruct the committee on rules to 
report. The sable gentleman in that Blaine wood-pile is 
hidden in the rule known to have been adopted by the 



432 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

committee limiting debate to five-minute speeches, and 
if that rule could be established before the report of the 
committee on credentials, it would cut off the expected 
long debate on the disputed seats. It was a desperate 
and awkward struggle of the Blaine men to regain the 
golden hours they had thrown away, but it provoked a 
running debate in which they suffered greatly. Logan 
and Boutwell made earnest protests, but Gen. Harrison, 
who has a wistful eye on the Vice-Presidency, crushed 
out the petty strategy of Henderson by a manly and elo- 
quent appeal for fair play and free debate. General 
Sharpe followed and put the Blaine men in the attitude of 
seeking to violate the plighted faith of the entire com- 
mittee, -by which it was agreed that their report should 
not be made until the contested seats were settled, and 
thus avoid the arbitrary limitation of debate on the great 
preliminary battle. General Garfield, chairman of the 
committee on rules, sustained General Sharpe as to the 
action of the committee, but invited the convention to 
instruct him to report. General Sharpe followed by a 
shrewd exhibition of strategy in the shape of an amend- 
ment requiring the committee on contested seats to re- 
port at once. 

"This brought the opposing forces face to face. 
When he demanded a vote by call of the States it 
forced the first test of the strength of the Grant and 
combined opposition factions, and the most intense ex- 
citement and repeated outbreaks of applause attended 
the roll-call. The unit-rule question was speedily set- 
tled when the first State was called. The chairman of 
the Alabama delegation reported the vote as 20 for the 



CHICAGO CONVENTION NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT. 433 

Sharpe amendment, but when a colored delegate pro- 
tested and said that he wished his vote recorded in the 
negative, President Hoar answered : ' The vote will be 
SO recorded,' and the unit rule disappeared amidst vocif- 
erous cheers. The vote for Sharpe's amendment was 
a clean Grant vote, outside of Vermont, whose dele- 
gation erected a very legible finger-board to lead the 
Grant men to Edmunds as the dark horse by voting 
solid with the Grant men. It made a visible flutter 
throughout the convention, and sent a chill to many o^ 
the ardent Blaine men. It proved that Cameron, Conk- 
ling, and Edmunds understood each other, and that Ed- 
munds is the heir apparent of the Grant dynasty. Penn- 
sylvania voted 31 to 23, showing that Blaine has made 
no progress in his native State to-d;iy, with all the ap- 
parent tide in his favor and the ebb of the Grant cause ;. 
and when Conkling reported exactly the same number of. 
Blaine men in New York, the stubborn staying qualities- 
of the defeated Grant men greatly sobered the leaders,, 
who believed the nomination of Blaine to be assured hy 
the general disintegration of the third-termers. The 
vote footed up 318 for Sharpe's amendment, and 406. 
against it, exhibiting 308 i>ositive Grant votes, leaving 
out Vermont, and but 88 majority for the combined; 
Blaine, Sherman, Wa.shburne, and Windom opposition. 
When the vote was analyzed it became apparent that 
the actual Blaine vote was fifty less than the vote for 
Grant, and that of the opposition vote about forty from 
Massachusetts, Connecticut, and elsewhere were cast by 
Edmunds men. Brandagee, of Connecticut, followed the^ 
vote by a motion to lay the Henderson original motiom 

28 



434 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

on the table, and the Blaine men were again signally 
defeated in their ill-advised strategy by the success of 
Brandngee's moA'ement, and an adjournment until ten 
o'clock to-morrow was then speedily carried." 

The third day's session opened at ten o'clock on 
the morning of the 4th of June. '•' Conkling struck out 
boldly when time was called in the morning, and he 
disconcerted Hale by his resolution declaring that all 
delegates should be bound to give a cordial support to 
the nominee of the convention. It was a resolution that 
Hale could not oppose, and yet he knew that all under- 
stood it as a public notice from the imperious Grant 
Jeader, that if Grant was beaten Blaine would share 
discomfiture with him. Conkling did it with the grand- 
>est dramatic effect, and it gave inspiration to the Grant 
followers, while it chilled the whole Blaine army and 
.exposed the weak point of the allies. The resolution 
prevailed without opposition, but Conkling demanded a 
.call of the States and made the most out of his early 
spanking of Hale. Three West Virginia Sherman men 
voted against the resolution, and Conkling at once swung 
ithe party lash to stripe them before the multitude, but 
after a rambling debate of an issue he withdrew his 
whip and let the dissenters pursue their go-as-you-please 
iplan. 

" Finally the committee on credentials reported, and 

the changes made in the Pennsylvania cases were th 

strongest evidence of the loss of vim and leadership in 

.the BLune men. They had reconsidered the Lancaster 

■case and lost two votes, and the Pollock-Campion and 

the Brown-Buch cases had been allowed to remain as 



CHICAGO CONVENTION NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT. 435 

the Grant men had fixed them. Night before last the 
Blaine committee started out to decide all doubtful 
cases, if not all cases, in their own favor, and the Grant 
men ruefully prepared for such a fate ; but a d;iy was 
lost to Blaine when the tide was at its flood, and the 
tide ebbed before Blaine has come to victory, as could 
have been done by anything like skilful management. 
A general relaxation and shuffling off followed, and even 
the Blaine credentials committee gave Grant four votes 
in Pennsylvania which they could have retained on 
plausible grounds in two cases, and in obedience to the 
mandate of the Lancaster Republicans in the other two 
cases. It is not surprising, therefore, that the proceed- 
ings of to-day exhibited only a succession of irritating 
skirmish attacks from the Grant managers and little or 
no manly resistance from the Blaine side. 

"After Conkling had played with the Blaine men 
until he wearied of it Logan scored a briUiaut triumph 
over the credentials committee on an appeal to the con- 
vention. A protest had been sent to the committee by 
some Illinois outsiders, alleging that the Springfield con- 
vention was not a regular body, and that there were no 
properly elected delegates-at-large from the State. The 
committee received the protest, unanimously decided 
against it, and reported that the Logan delegates were 
entitled to their seats. Logan resented the mere refer- 
ence to his right to his place by the committee as a 
wanton imputation upon it when he had no contestant, 
and General Sharpe followed with a motion to expunge 
all reference to the delegates-at-large from the report. 
The Blaine leaders fought shy of the issue. Hale and 



436 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

Frye were silent, but their delegation did a good share 
of applause when opportunity for it offered. The allies 
were distrustful of their power, and they did not ventui'e 
to get into line of battle. The result was that Logan 
bore off his laurels in triumph. 

" Altogether the session was a succession of defiant 
advances against the Blaine outposts, and when adjourn- 
ment was reached the Grant men were victors in all the 
skirmishes of the da v. 

" The evening session brought the factious belligerents 
face to face on the question of contested seats, and Gen- 
eral Harrison voiced tlie impatience of delegates and au- 
ditors by proposing to limit debate to forty minutes in 
each case. With little preliminary spatting the conven- 
tion got down to work, taking up the Alabama contest. 
The Grant men were at a disadvantage that they well ap- 
preciated, as they were compelled to break their line or 
array themselves against the popular principle of direct 
representation of the people through the district, but they 
proved tbeir perfect disciphne by standing up squarely 
to the rack and accepting the issue. They knew that 
they must lose some, as one of the Grant delegates from 
Alabama made an earnest appeal in favor of the rights of 
districts, and Vermont could not be held on such a test. 
The debate was weak on the minority side, as Conkling, 
Logan, and the Grant dictators left the hopeless battle 
to their Southern friends, while Conger, Bateman, and 
other Blaine and Sherman orators, defended their cause 
on the floor. Three broke in Alabama, six of the Ver- 
mont men joined the allies, and there were straggling 
losses in Georgia, Texas, and North Carolina ; but the 



CHICAGO CONVEmlON— NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT. 4'3 i 

Grant column stood up 306 strong on the severest test 
that could be imposed, while the allies polled 449. By 
this decision the Grant men lose two votes in Alabama, 
and they will next lose eighteen in Illinois and gain four 
in Kansas. When the contested seats shall all have 
been settled the nett loss to Grant will be eighteen, which 
will leave the Grant men an available vote of nearly 
three hundred that can be handled as a solid body. It 
will be solid for Grant, or for the man who may take the 
place of Grant all the time. 

" The Illinois case followed also, and it was the sig- 
nal for the giants to come to the front. Logan opened 
the fight, with his usual pluck, against the motion to limit 
debate to an hour. He blundered outside of the record, 
and made a telhiig Grant speech, calling out the strong- 
est eruption of enthusiasm for the ' old soldier ' th;^t had 
\et been exhibited. He would have made a strong hit, 
Lut he unfortunately called out Haymond, of California, 
to answer a question, and the Golden Star oraior deliv- 
ered a broadside for Blaine that enabled the Blaine gal- 
leries to outdo the Grant applause immensely. It was 
kept up for five minutes, all the Blaine delegates and 
a large majority of the galleries rising and joining in the 
successive thunders of applause. Logan faced it grace- 
fully like a man, but his speech was love's labor lost 
He gained his point, however, by gaining two hours for 
the description of the Illinois case, besides his own speech 

of a full half hour. 

"The debate on the Illinois factions was opened by 
Conger, chairman of the credentials committee, in defence 
of the report and in favor of unseating eighteen Grant 



138 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

delegates. His speech was much the same as a half 
dozen others he had delivered during the day, and the 
vast audience sympathized with the convention in its 
weariness of that speech of Conger's. Raum, one of the 
sitting delegates, followed and threw much life into the 
dry details he gave of Republican precedents, but An- 
thony, a contestant, answered with equal ability, and he 
moulded Republican history in just the opposite way. 
Storrs followed in defence of the Grant delegates, and 
made some strong points, but he spoke with that heavi- 
ness that is comm.on when a man faces palpable and in- 
evitiible defeat until he accidentally struck the Blaine 
chord, by saying in a conciliatory tone, ' Nominate James 
G. Blaine, if you will,' when the Blaine galleries broke 
out in a tempest of applause that was kept up for seA''- 
eral qjinutes. He waited patiently until order was re- 
stored, when he countered with a beautiful tribute to the 
old soldier, and the Grant men simultaneously rose and 
stormed the convention with deafening applause for fully 
fifteen minutes. * Long John* Wentworth threw up his 
hat, Conkling and Tom Murphy answered from New 
York, and the excitement was soon brought to such a 
pitch that hats, handkerchiefs, and umbrellas were sent 
flying in the air. Some of the colored delegates jerked 
off their coats and whirled them around in the most 
frantic manner. In noise, earnestness, and endurance it 
threw all previous Blaine demonstrations in the shade, 
and clearly outlined the unconquerable determination of 
the Grant followers. When the storm was just begin- 
ning to calm a little, the Alabama delegatioti struck up 
the song of ' Marching through Georgia,' and the galleries 



CHICAGO CONVENTIOiN— NOMH^ATED FOR PRESIDENT. 439 

took up the refrain. Hoar looked on complacently and 
wait^ patiently for the volcano to quiet itself, but jusl 
when things seemed likely to settle the Blaine men 
started in fresli, and as they had two-thirds of the gal- 
leries they shouted and cheered louder than their oppo- 
nents, and kept it up quite as long. The ten thousand 
people present, who had been weary or worn out by te- 
dious debate, were easUy fired by one side or the other. 
A perfect pandemonium followed, and it was a full hour 
before the yelling ceased from sheer exhaustion. The 
riotous applause lasted a full hour, each side cheering in 

turn. • 

" When the convention finally settled down the Presi- 
dent attempted to put the question, but the only response 
was a fresh confusion of cheers for Blaine and Grant. 
Raum at last diverted the shouters by proposing three 
cheers for the nominee of the convention, which were 
given wilh a will. Storrs then attempted to proceed, but 
he incidentally named Sherman, and the Sherman men 
took a brief tilt at applause, but it was feeble and soon 
wore itself out. He then finished his speech at a quar- 
ter to one. 

"Pixley, of California, followed witli a brief speech 
that somewhat sobered the convention. He character- 
ized the demonstrations as worthy only of France and the 
Commune Butterworth moved to adjourn until ten 
o'clock and demanded a call of the roll. It was finished 
at 1.10 A. M., and the adjournment was defeated by the 
overwhelming vote of 653 to lOo. ^ 

« The vote was then about to be taken on the Lunoia 
contest, when Clayton of Arkansas, moved to subsUtute 



i40 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

the minority report relating to the First Congressional 
district, and a call of the roil was ordered, resulting in the 
defeat of the amendment by 387 to 353. Many of the 
delegations had one or more absentees, worn out by thj 
protracted session and exhausting cheering, and Kansas 
declined to vote. As the Blaine sauce for Illinois throws 
out four Blaine men in that State, the result was received 
with vociferous applause from the Grant men, as it nearly 
annihilated the allied majority. Sixteen in Ohio broke, 
which is regarded as the Grant strength there as ngainst 
Blaine. The question then recurred on the original re- 
port, seating the contesting anti-Grant delegates from 
the first district of Illinois, and Logan demanded the call 
of the roll. It was concluded at 1.45 a. m., and the ma- 
jority report was adopted by 384 to 356. Pennsylvania 
voted 34 on the Logan side and 24 against it. Logan 
then called a division of the question on the eight dis- 
tricts, 'but the variance was not material from the test 
vote in the first district. The eighteen anti-Grant men 
were certain of being seated, and as they were admitted 
they swelled the sadly cut down allied majority. A 
motion to adjourn to eleven o'clock on Saturday was 
carried at half-past two. 

" President Hoar did not call the convention to order 
on the morning of the fourth day, June 5th, until a quar- 
ter before twelve o'clock. The Kansas contest was the 
first business and it was an embarrassing issue to both 
sides. The Blaine-Sherman men were compelled to vote 
3ut four of their men and give their seats to Grant men 
to justify their action in the Illinois case, and the Grant 
men hail to vote against the admission of their own 



CHICAGO COX^^ENTION NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT. 441 

friends to maintain their consistency. The Blaine-Sher- 
man men preserved their intention and voted out their 
own men, but some of the fierce Grant men stood obsti- 
nately to their guns and voted against the addition of 
four to their number. Logan rose and, in dramatic 
style, cast the votes of his Illinois followers against his 
friends. The overwhelming vote of 476 to 184 showed, 
however, that separate district representation is hence- 
forth to be the accepted law of the party. The next 
question brought about a sudden change of partners in 
the national waltz. Two Sherman men contested the 
seats of the Blaine delegates from West Virginia, and the 
Sherman men were thrown into an alliance with Grant as 
if by magic. The cut came from Massachusetts, and the 
Blaine leaders saw that an unexpected and serious danger 
threatened them. They threw out their flanks to stiiy 
the union between the Sherman and Grant forces, but it 
was Grouchy after Blucher over again. Tlie Sherman 
men filed in with the Grant army, and Blaine was com- 
pelled for the first time to face the field alone, as Grant 
had to meet it in several previous conflicts. An active 
rally was made along the Blaine lines, but the vote of 
every divided delegation proved that many who were 
bitterly against Grant were as bitterly against Blaine, 
and the ballot footed up 417 for the new Grant-Sherman 
combination and 3i2 against. 

" This was the first show^ of the positive Blaine 
strength, and it presented a majority of 84 against him, 
but it also showed that Blaine had more positive strength 
than Grant in the convention. The next test vote was 
yet a more severe trial for Blaine. The Utah coutest 



442 • JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

was between the Grant contestants and the Blaine sitting 
members, and, to the surprise of the Blaine leaders. 
Massachusetts again gave the hint to the convention that 
the field would again combine against Blaine. The issue 
seemed to be extremely perilous to Blaine, but they had 
no way to escape. They had no chance for retreat and 
none for victory, and they had to stand up as bravely 
as possible and receive the shock. The prestige of the 
West Virginia vote was with the field, against Blaine, 
and it had its effect, as was shown by the increased anti- 
Blaine vote. The Grant-Sherman combination increased 
its vote for the admission of the square Grant delegates 
to the seats of two square Blaine delegates from 417 
on the West Virginia to 426 on the Utah nine, and the 
Blaine vote was reduced from 330 to 312. These votes 
indicated a rapid crystallization of the field against 
Blaine, and the Blaine leaders would have floundered in- 
definitely had not the Grant leaders reinspired them by 
forciuLi' their battle too fast and too far. When General 
Gai'field moved the adoption of the report on rules, Gen- 
eral Sharpe, one of the staunchest and ablest of the Grant 
managers, threw the Blaine men into consternation by 
moving to proceed at once to the general nomination of 
candidates for President. Sharpe made his motion de- 
liberately, and he evidently had a two-fold purpose in 
offering it. He hoped that the new Sherman allies would 
Btand by the Grant men in forcing the fight and thus de- 
moralize the Blaine lines, or, failing in that, he desired to 
demonstrate the exact strength of Grant against both 
Blaine and Sherman and the necessity of uniting on a 
candidate against Blaine. 



CHICAGO CONVENTION NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT. 443 

" General Garfield at once met General Sharpe with 
an order for his allies to fall back into the Blaine camp 
again, and that gave notice that the scenes were suddenly 
shifted and that the Blaine-Sherman combination would 
at once resume business. When a roll-call was demanded 
there was a general bustle among the delegations, and all 
stragglers were hastily summoned into hne. The result 
proved that Grant had 276 votes agiiinst the field and 
that the field had 479 against Grant. The result was 
received with a storm of applause from the well-crowded 
Blaine galleries, and the Blaine leaders were again re- 
stored to the command of the convention by the bold 
movement of General Sharpe. It was not a distinct 
Blaine victory ; but it was a decisive Grant defeat, and 
it was accepted as a formal judgment that Grant was out- 
side the p.'ile of success. The Bhiine men were timid not- 
withstanding their substantial recovery from the disaster 
suffered in the West Virginia and Utah cases, and they 
feared to press the struggle. Both sides considered Pierre- 
pont's platform leisurely, as if each was afraid to precipi- 
tate the great battle, and when the tedious resolutions 
had jogged through a sluggish debate on civil service re- 
form, with nobody exhibiting any disposition to hasten 
results, the Blaine men were afraid to go on and afraid to 
move to adjourn. Ex-Postmaster General Creswell came 
to the relief of both sides at 4.50 p. m., by a motion to ad- 
journ until seven o'clock. All the preliminary work was 
(mt of the way, and the convention had to face a direct 
struggle on the nomination or adjourn. A few feeble 
noes were gi'ven on the question, but nobody demanded 
a roll-call, and the three jarring elements of the conveu- 



444 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

tion ruslied out to see which could best plot and counter- 
plot to destroy the others. 

" The probability that the final struggle was at hand 
attracted an eager crowd to the evening session. The 
galleries were jammed before the hour of meeting, and 
every place that would allow of a man to be crowded into 
it was occupied before President Hoar's gavel fell. The 
scene was the most briUinnt of all the many brilliant ex- 
hibitions given in the great hall during the last four days. 
There were no laggards atnong the delegates and the com- 
manders were at their posts on sharp time. The ladies 
largely increased their numbers among the spectators, and 
on every side the most intense interest was manifested. 
The Blaine men were hopeful, but they did not conceal 
their apprehensions that their bitter battle against Grant 
might recoil upon .them fearfully to-night. It has been 
clear since early in the day that the contest would be be- 
tween Blaine and the field, and in every preliminary trial 
the field had won, but the Blaine men feel confident that 
they can command a clear majority against nny one man. 
Such were the hopes and expectations of the Blaine 
leaders when seven o'clock summoned them to the final 
grapple with tlieir foes. The Grant men came into ac- 
tion with little or no hope of success for their favorite, 
but they have taken their last stand to make Blaine share 
their defeat. Both the Sherman and Grant managers teel 
that delay will be in their favor. They do not want to 
betray their position by forcing an adjournment over till 
Monday, but their policy will be to protract the ballots 
and wear out the night session. Such was the attitude of 
the belligerents when the convention opened this evening. 



CHICAGO CONVENTION— NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT. 445 

" Hale, the chief Blaine leader, took the floor as soon 
as the convention was ready for business, and there was 
a sudden hush, followed by applause as soon as he was 
ecognized. It was regarded as the signal for a deter- 
mined advance of the Blaine men, but the disappointment 
was general among his followers when he made what was, 
under the circumstances, a dilatory motion. With two 
hours certain to be occupied in speeches presenting can- 
didates, not more than two hours would remain ^r ballot- 
ing, as the advent of Sunday will adjourn the body at 
twelve. It was accepted by all sides as indicating hesi- 
tation on the part of the Bhdne chieftains. When the 
name of Cameron was reported as the unanimous choice 
of Pennsylvania for the national committee, he received 
his first hearty cheers from the galleries. 

" Both Illinois and Maine made no response when 
called to nominate a candidate for President, but when 
Micliiaan was called, Mr. Joy at once rose and nominated 
Blaine. 

" After some desultory sparring over the nati(mal 
committee had been lazily disposed of there was nothing 
left but to oo to Presidential nominations, and Hale was 
compelled to lead off because the others would not and 
could afford to wait. He finally rose and moved the 
call of the States for general nominations for President. 
When Illinois was called, being the first State in alpha- 
betical order that has candidates, there was no response, 
and like silence followed the call of Maine, but when 
Michigan was called, Mr. Joy rose to nominate Blaine. 
It was one of the many blunders of the Blaine leaders, as 
-I'is speech was dry, uninspiring, and never elicited a cheer. 



446 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

except twice when he named Blaine. Long-continued 
cheers followed, and at one time a repetition of the lant 
night yelling blockade was apprehended. Colonel Pixley. 
of California, seconded the nomination. He improved on 
Joy, but fell far short of the expectations of the Blaine 
people. Indeed, so indifferently had Blaine been advo- 
cated, that Frye, had to come forward and ask to be heard 
by a suspension of the rules. It was granted, of course, 
and he gave the Blaine men a taste of what they wanted. 
His five-minute speech was grand, bold, and eloquent, and 
Blaine was redeemed. When Minnesota was called, Mr. 
Drake, of Minnesota, came forward and named Windom, 
but it was a failure. He did not fill his ten minutes, and 
the audience gave him a few parting cheers. 

" New York was soon called, and Conkling rose and 
quickly stepped upon the platform. It was the signal 
for thunders of a[)plause. With difficulty silence was 
finally restored, and the vast gathering suddenly hushed 
into perfect stillness. Conscious that his cause was a 
hopeless one, he spoke with all the inspiration of one 
who was about to gather the garLtnd of victory. He 
was sublimely eloquent. His polished blows at Blaine 
were as terrible as they were elegant, and his epigram- 
matic tributes to Grant exhausted the power of language. 
Nearly every sentence was interrupted by an ovation. 
When he said that Grant had no appliances and no tele- 
graph running from his house tt) this convention the 
Blaine galleries sent up a flood of hisses and jeers and 
calls for ' time,' as he had exceeded his ten minutes. 
For some time the galleries would not allow him to be 
hearri, but he stood calmly, with folded arms, until th( 



CHICAGO CONVENTION NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT. 447 

Opposition exhausted itself. Then he said, as only Conk- 
ling could say it, * Go on, if you will ; it doesn't come 
out of my time.' It then occurred to the Blaine fol- 
lowers, even in the galleries, that the niglit was passinL^, 
and that they were themselves aiding to postpone a 
nomination until Monday. He was then allowed to 
finish, and he retired amid a tempest of cheers. The 
speech was equal to Tngersoll's speech for Blaine in 
1876 in eloquence and power. 

"It was fully twenty minutes after Conkling left the 
platform before order could be restored. The Grant 
men in convention and galleries took a regular jubilee, 
and President Hoar had to sit down and let disorder 
tire itself out. The Grant delegation ' pooled ' the flags 
which mark their States, marched around the aisles, 
cheering and yelling as if bedlam had broken loose. 
Finally, Bradley, of Kentucky, was allowed to speak, 
seconding the nomination of Grant ; but it was tame after 
Conkling. 

" Garfield next rose and the audience started a new 
storm of applause. As soon as he could be heard he 
nominated Sherman and delivered an eloquent and im- 
pressive appeal for his candidate, but neither galleries 
nor convention had half as much applause for Sherman 
as they had for Garfield himself" 

The following is the full text of General Garfield's 
speech : 

" Mr. President : I have witnessed the extraordi- 
nary scenes of this convention with deep solicitude. 
No emotion touches my heart more quickly than a sen- 
timent in honor of a great and noble character. Bui 



448 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

iis I sat on these seats and witnessed these demonstra- 
tions, it seemed to me you were a human ocean in a 
tempest. I have seen the sea lashed into fury and 
tossed into a spray, and its grandeur moves the soul of 
the dullest man. But I remember that it is not the 
billows, but the calm level of the sea from which all 
heights and depths are measured. When the storm has 
passed and the hour of calm settles on the ocean, when 
sunshine bathes its smooth surface, then the astronomer 
and surveyor takes the level from which he measures all 
terrestrial heights and depths. Gentlemen of the con- 
vention, your present temper may not mark the health- 
ful pulse of the people. 

" When our enthusiasm has passed, when the emr>- 
tions of this hour have subsided, we shall find the calm 
level of public opinion, below the storm, from which 
the thoughts of a mighty people are to be measured, 
and by which their final action will be determined. 
Not here, in this brilliant circle, where 15,000 men and 
women are assembled, is the destiny of the Republic to 
be decreed ; not here, where I see the enthusiastic faces 
of 756 delegates waiting to cast their votes into the 
urn and determine the choice of their party; but by 
5,000,000 Republican firesides, where the thoughtful 
fathers, with wives and children about them, with the 
calm thoughts inspired by love of home and love of 
country, with the history of the past, the hopes of the 
future, and the knowledge of the great men who have 
adorned and blessed our nation in days gone by, — there 
God prepares the verdict that shall determine the wis- 
dom of our work to-night. Not in Chicago, in the heat 



CHICAGO CONVENTION NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT. 449 

of June, but in the sober quiet that comes between now 
and November, in the silence of deliberate judgment, 
will this great question be settled. Let us aid them 

to-night. 

" But now, gentlemen of the convention, what do 
we want? Bear with me a moment. He.ir me for this 
cause, and, for a moment, be silent that you may hear. 
Twenty-five years ago this Bepublic was wearing a 
triple chain of bondage. Long familiarity with the 
traffic in the body and souls of men had paralyzed the 
consciences of a majority of our people. The baleful 
doctrine of State sovereignty had shocked and weak- 
ened the noblest and most beneficent powers of the 
national government, and the grasping power of slavery 
was seizing the virgin Territories of the West and drag- 
ging them into the den of eternal bondage. At that 
crisis the Republican party was born. It drew its first 
inspiration from the fire of liberty which God has lighted 
in every man s heart, and which all the powers of ig- 
norance and tyranny can never wholly extinguish. The 
Republican party came to deliver and save the Repub- 
lic. It entered the arena when the beleaguered and as- 
sailed Territories were struggling for freedom, and drew 
around them the sacred circle of liberty, which the 
demon of slavery has never dared to cross. It made 
them free forever. 

"Strengthened by its victory on the frontier, the 
young party, under the leadership of that great man, 
who on this spot, twenty years ago, was made its leader, 
entered the national capital and assumed the high duties 
of the Government. The light which shone from its 

29 



450 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

banner dispelled the darkness in which sl.-ivery had en- 
.shrouded the Capitol and melted the shackles of every 
slave, and consumed, in the fire of liberty, every slave- 
pen within the shadow of the Capitol. Our national 
industries, by an impoverishing policy, were themselves 
prostrated, and the streams of revenue flowed in such 
feeble currents that the treasury itself was well nigh 
empty. The money of the people was the wretched 
notes of 2,000 uncontrolled and irresponsible State bank 
corporations, which were filling the country with a cir- 
culation that poisoned rather than sustained the life of 
business. 

" The Republican party changed all this. It abol- 
ished the babel of confusion and gave the country a cur- 
rency as national as its flag, based upon the sacred faith 
of the people. It threw its protecting arm around our 
great industries, and they stood erect as with new life. 
It filled with the spirit of true nationality all the great 
functions of the Government. It confronted a rebellion 
of unexampled magnitude, with a slavery behind it, and, 
under God, fought the final battle of liberty until victory 
was won. Then, after the storms of battle, were heard 
the i,weet, calm words of peace uttered by the couquer- 
ing nation, and saying to the conquered foe that lay pros- 
trate at its feet, ' This is our only revenge, that you joi i 
us in lifting to the serene firmament of the Constitution, 
to shine like stars forever and forever, the immortal prin- 
ciples of truth and justice, that all men, white or black, 
shall be free and stand equal before the law.' Then can)e 
the questions of reconstruction, the public debt, and the 
pu'dic faith. 



CHICAGO CONVENTION NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT. 451 

" In the settlement of these questions the Republican 
parly has completed its twenty-five years of glorious ex- 
i£tenc3, and it has sent us here to prepare it for another 
lustrum of duty and of victory. How shall we do this 
great work? We cannot do it, my friends, by assailing 
our Republican brethren. God forbid that I should say 
one word to cast a shadow upon any name on the roll of 
our heroes. This coming fight is our Thermopylae. We 
are stand;ng upon a narrow isthmus. If our Spartan 
hosts are united we can withstand all the Persians that 
the Xerxeti of Democracy can bring against us. 

"Let ua hold our ground this one year, for the stars 
in their courses fight for us in the future. The census to 
be taken this year will bring re-enforcements and con- 
tinued power. But, in order to win this victory now, we 
want the vote of every Republican, of every Grant Re- 
publican in America, of every Blaine man and every anti- 
Blaine man. The vote of every follower of every candi- 
date is needed to make our success certain ; therefore I 
say, gentlemen and brethren, we are here to calmly coun 
sel together, and inquire what we shall do. [A voice 
' Nominate Garfield.' — Great applause.] 

'' We want a man whose life and opinions embody all 
the achievements of which I have spoken. We want a 
man who, standing on a mountain height, sees all the 
achievements of our past history, and carries in his heart 
the memory of all its glorious deeds, and who, looking 
forward, prepares to meet the labor and the dangers to 
come. We want one who will act in no spirit of uukind- 
ness toward those we lately met in battle. The Repub- 
lican party offers to our brethren of the South the oiivo 



452 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

branch of peace, and wishes them to return to brother 
hood, on this supreme condition, that it shall be admitted, 
forever and for evermore, that, in the war for the Union, 
we were right and they were wrong. [Cheers.] On 
that supreme condition we meet them as brethren, and 
no other. We ask them to share with us the blessings 
and honors of this great Republic. 

" Now, gentlemen, not to weary you, I am about to 
present a name for your consideration — the name of a 
man who was the comrade, and associate, and friend of 
nearly all those noble dead whose faces look down upon 
us from these walls to-night [cheers] ; a man who began 
his career of public service twenty-five years ago, whose 
first duty was courageously done in the days of peril on 
the plains of Kansas, when the first red drops of that 
bloody shower began to fall which finally swelled into 
the deluge of war. He bravely stood by young Kansas 
then, and, returning to his duty in the national legisla- 
ture, through all subsequent time his pathway has been 
marked by labors performed in every department of legis- 
lation. 

" You ask for his monuments. I point you to twenty- 
five years of the national statutes. Not one great benefi- 
cent statute has been placed on our statute books with- 
out his intelligent and powerful aid. He aided these men 
to formulate the laws that raised our great armies and 
carried us through the war. His hand was seen in the 
workmanship of those statutes that restored and brought 
back the unity and married calm of the States. His 
hand was in all that great legislation that created the war 
currency, and in a greater work that redeemed the prom- 



CHICAGO CONVENTION NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT. 453 

• 

ises of the Government, and made the currency equal to 
gold. And when, at last, called from the halls of legisla- 
tion into a high executive office, he displayed that expe- 
rience, intelligence, firmness, and poise of character which 
has carried us through a stormy period of three years. 
With one half the public press crying ' Crucify him ! ' and 
a hostile Congress seeking to prevent success — in all this 
he remained unmoved until victory crowned him. 

" The great fiscal affairs of the nation and the great 
business interests of the country he has guarded and pre- 
served, while executing the law of resumption, and effect- 
ing its object, without a jar, and against the false prophe- 
cies of one half of the press and all the Democracy of 
this continent. He has shown himself able to meet with 
calmness the great emergencies of the Government for 
twenty-five years. He has trodden the perilous heights 
of public duty, and against all the shafts of malice has 
borne his breast unharmed. He has stood in the blaze of 
'• that fierce light that beats against the throne," but its 
fiercest ray has found no flaw in his armor, no stain on 
his shield. 

" I do not present him as a better Republican, or as 
a better man than thousands of others we honor, but I 
present him for your deliberate consideration. I nomi- 
nate John Sherman, of Ohio." 

" Elliot, the colored orator of South Carolina, varied 
the monotony of the generally indifi'erent speeches nomi- 
nating candidates by an eloquent and well-delivered ap- 
peal for Sherman, and ex-Governor Smith, of Vermont, 
then started the Edmunds, boom, which was seconded by 
Sandford, of Massachusetts. The convention and the 



454 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

galleries were both wearied of the oratory and fireworks, 
and repeated manifestations of impatience were given. 
As soon as it became probable that a ballot must go over 
till Monday, the interest of the vast audience visibly 
flagged, and empty seats became visible as crowds rushed 
to escape the heat of tiie hall. At 11.30, Cassidy, of 
Wisconsin, rose to nominate Washburne, but Coukling, 
Frye, and Garfield had made all ordinary speeches stale 
and unprofitable, and neither Cassidy nor his theme in- 
spired enthusiasm. 

" Brandagee, of Connecticut, infused fresh spirit into 
the jaded audience by a sprightly, eloquent seconding of 
Washburne. He closed at 11.50 P. m., leaving Sunday 
but ten minutes off. The nominations were then finished, 
and a motion to adjourn until ten o'clock on Monday was 
carried just as the midnight hour was struck." 

When the doors of the convention were opened on 
the morning of Monday, June 7th, " hurried streams of 
humanity poured in at every entrance, and when the houi 
arrived for President Hoar to swing his gavel, all the por- 
tions of the hall within possible hearing of the proceed- 
ings were jammed to the uttermost. Even the reserved 
platform of the correspondents was invaded b}' the crowd 
until communication with the hundred batteries which 
maintained their ceaseless clicking hard by was almost 
entirely interrupted. The ladies gave their wealth of 
smiles upon the conflict of the political giants in greater 
profusion than at any previous session, and the distin- 
guished guests were wedged in upon each other as if 
they were no more than common flesh and blood. 

*' Hoar came in ahead of time and looked serene as a 



CHICAGO CONVENTION — NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT. 455 

fiiniimer morning that welcomed him to his task, and his 
face was fresh as the roses which shed their exquisite 
tints and fragrance on his table. He has borne himself 
so well, so impartially, and so intelligently, that all felt 
assured of a faithful umpire in the desperation of the last 
charge of the conten<ling hosts. Alabama, as usual, was 
first to present a full delegation, and Arkansas, just be- 
hind her, speedily followed. The colored troops were 
generally among the first to the front, and they evidently 
meant to fight nobly. Conkling was mindful of the po- 
tency of dramatic strategy, and knew that he wouhl meet 
his grandest welcome as he passed before his allies to 
lead them in the hand-to-hand struggle, lie waited until 
just before the time for calling to order, and then strode 
into the hall with that magnificent bearing that none of 
his rivals can imitate. As soim as his tall form and sil- 
vered crown were visible, the shout went up that all un- 
derstood, and it was heartier and longer than before, lie 
w\-ilked down the aisle with the utmost exposure, and 
gracefully bowed his recognition of the homage tendered 
him. Garfield is the member of the con\'ention who di- 
vides with Conkling the popular welcome at every open- 
ing, iie has evidently studied the graces for such occa- 
sions less, and therefore appears to have studied them 
more; while Conkling is either so complete in his culture 
or so gifted in the perfection of manner, that he seems to 
be a born leader and ^iirandly conscious of it. Conkling's 
dress has the appearance of the most elegant negligence, 
while Garfield comes with his carefully adjusted tie and 
collar, closely buttoned frock-coat and displaying a gen- 
teel mixture of mirror poses and Western go-as-you-please. 



456 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

''" TTe received a roval welcome when he entered, and 
his strong, ruprgod features lightened like the rippled l.-ike 
with its dancing sunshine. Cameron was active, silent 
and determined as ever. He flitted hurriedly among 
the distinguished guests, before tlie signal gun was fired, 
and then retired to his immediate command. Hale and 
Frye were among the first to take their position, and 
ho])e and fear were plainly wresthng with each other on 
their faces. Hale was pale with anxiety, and the usu- 
ally flushed features of Frve were redder than are their 
wont. Both seemed well poised and reasonably self- 
reliant, but the contrast between their nervous apprehen- 
sions and the calm defiance of Conkling was a study for 
the intelligent observers of men. Chandler was rest- 
less, and his little face seemed to have shrunk away 
biehind his eye-glasses. 

" Logan was calm as the dark cloud that is just 
waiting to hurl its thunderbolt. He sat as still as a 
statue, his swarthy features appearing darker than usual, 
and his fierce black eyes now and then darting out their 
most defiant flashes. He seemed conscious that his 
leader was beaten, but he was evidently resolved that 
there should be a costly retreat for the pursuing hosts. 
Garfield, Foster, Dennison, Bateman, Butterfield, and 
other Ohio leaders, were to be seen in little knots of their 
delegation, as if they feared defection at an early stage 
of the contest, and there was evident unrest among the 
Indiana men. General Harrison's short form and sharply- 
cut features were shaded with anxiety. He feared Grant, 
and now that Grant seemed to be beaten, he was im- 
pressed with the possibility of the grandson of a Presi- 



CHICAGO CONVENTION NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT. 457 

dent being the choice of exhausted factions. General 
Sewell sat in front of Coiikling, and his youthful face 
exhibited the coolness and determination which charac- 
terized him in the heat of battle. As Air as faces could 
be distinguished in the great arena, all seemed to be 
soberly anxious for the order to advance. 

"When President Hoar called the convention to order 
there was a speedy hush, and the vast multitude was 
seated with wonderful alacrity. All seemed anxious for 
the fight to begin. The minister Avho opened with 
prayer shared the general appreciation of the value of 
the fleeting moments, and his petition had the merit of 
brevit}'. President Hoar at once called the combatants 
to the arena, and gave notice that there should be no 
delay, no debate, no tricks by changing votes after once 
cast ; and he faithfully enforced the rules. Hale came 
promptly to the front by moving to proceed to a ballot. 
His manner was courageous, and the Blaine men sent 
up a cheer to encourage him. Conkling followed, and 
seconded the motion with an air that plainly told his 
followers he was ready for the fray, and the Grant gal- 
leries welcomed him with a storm of applause. The 
roll-call was at once begun amidst most intense anx- 
iety, many of the leaders exhibiting painful suspense. 

" Alabama opened for Grant by giving him nearly a 
solid vote, and Arkansas followed with an entirely solid 
vote for him. There was faint applause, but all sides 
joined in hissing it down. Next came California with a 
united vote for Blaine, which was announced by Pixley 
in a dramatic way and with a clap-trap sentence lor the 
gjiileries, but the \ vesident rose and notified the chairmen 



458 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

of delegations that no comment of any kind would be 
allowed. The ballot then ran along in a regulation way 
until Connecticut was called, when there was breathless 
filence to hear the response, and when it g;n^e Blaine 
but three and Grant none, there was a double disap- 
pointment. The next State that excited special attention 
was New York, and when Conkling rose to announce the 
vote, every one strained forward to catch his words. In 
a distinct voice he slowly responded : ' Two votes are 
reported for Sherman, seventeen for Blaine, and fifty-one 
are for Grant.' His emphasis upon the words, ' are for 
Grant,' was an exhibition of Conkling's own method of 
impressing himself upon those around him, and but for 
the common desire to prefer a vote to a hurrah there 
would have been a storm of cheers. Ohio threw a wet 
blanket on the Sherman men by casting nine votes for 
Blaine on the first ballot, and it brightened the faces of 
a vast majority of the spectators. Penns^ Ivania was 
another of the States that silenced the audience when 
called, as she was about to declare how Cameron had 
held the Grant lines there against the impetuous dashes 
made by the Blaine men. There was evident gratifica- 
tion among the Grant followers and equal disappointment 
among the Blaine men when General Beaver's clear, 
strong voice thundered out so that all could hear it: 
* Pennsylvania votes thirty-two for Grant, twenty-three 
for Blaine, and three for Sherman.' There was little 
variation from the generally understood u,ttitudes of the 
States called after Pennsylvania, and tUe ballot closed 
in the most orderly manner. 

"When the secretary announced \hat Grant had 



CHICAGO CONVENTION NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT. 459 

reached 304; Blaine, 284; Sherman, 93; Edmunds, 34; 
Washburne, 30, and Windom 10, there was a spontane- 
ous shout from the Grant ranks, and the Blaine leaders 
and followers were grieAously mortified. Hale and Frye 
could not conceal their apprehensions that they had mis- 
calculated their strength, and that the defeat of their 
l)lumed knight was more than probable. They had con- 
fidently counted on from 305 to 315 for Blaine on the 
first ballot, and they conceded only 275 to Grant. But 
the battle was upon them; there was no time allowed to 
rally or gather up stragglers, and they had to push the 
fight as best they could with the prestige, on which many 
hesitating votes depended, clearly against them. The 
Grant galleries seemed to take in the situation, and to 
understand that rapid voting rather than boisterous 
cheering was their policy. The moment the vote was 
announced by President Hoar he ordered another ballot, 
holding that nothing was in order but to vote ; and before 
the leaders could take a look at their lines they w^ere in 
action again by the prompt roll-call. The Blaine men 
noted the second ballot with painful interest, as they 
hoped to receive a large accession to their candidate, and 
when the result showed that Grant had gained one and 
that Blaine had lost two there was a visible chill through- 
out the Blaine ranks. The third ballot was precipitated 
upon the convention immediately after the second had 
been announced, and the Blaine men hoped that Ohio or 
Pennsylvania would signal the doubtful vote to come to 
the popular leader ; but Ohio exhibited no variation, even 
with Sherman's own delegation divided, and Pennsylvania 
announced a gain to Grant at the cost of Blaine. 



IGO JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

" It v;as on this bnllot that Caleb N. Taylor, of Bucks, 
started the Harrison boom solitary and alone, but during 
all the subsequent votes there was no response to it from 
Indiana. The announcement of 305 for Grant and 282 
for Claine settled fill sides down to a wearing contest, 
and it so continued until sixteen ballots had been cast, 
without any material change in the lines. So closely was 
the voting watched that every change of a single vote 
was understood at once, and the gain or loss of two or 
three votes by either Grant or Blaine was the signal for 
applause when the ballot was closed. During the sixteen 
ballots Grant carried only from 303 to 309 and Blaine 
from 280 to 285. The only episode that interfered to re- 
lieve the monotony of the sameness of voting was when 
Conkling lost a vote in his delegation. He did not dis- 
pute the correctness of the vote returned to him as chair- 
man, but he evidently meant that deserters must uncover 
themselves. He demanded a call of the roll in open con- 
vention, which required each individual delegate to rise 
and answer for himself, and Senator McCarthy proved to 
be the missing Grant man who had taken refuge in the 
Blaine camp. He was vociferously cheered by the gal- 
leries when he cast his vote, but Conkling looked on com- 
placently and felt assured that he had stopped further 
straggling. After the sixth ballot General Harrison rose 
and moved a recess until 5 p. m., but it was howled down 
before the question could be put. Later on Drake tried to 
stop what seemed to be a tedious farce by renewing the 
motion to adjourn, but he fared no better than Harrison. 
After eighteen ballots, and when more than five hours 
had been consumed in casting and counting 755 votes, 



CHICAGO CONVENTION NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT. 461 

almost without variation, Mr. Buchanan, the Sherman 
chairman of the Mississippi delegation, moved a recess 
until seven o'clock, and it was carried without serious 
opposition. Both the Grant and Blaine leaders are seek- 
ing alliances with Sherman, and when a Sherman manager 
proposed a truce, the chief opposing forces were unwilling 
to antagonize him. An adjournment was then hurriedly 
carried and the weary crowd filed out to dinner. 

" The brief recess was actively employed by leaders 
of all sides to get possession of the incalculable quantity 
from the South that followed Sherman. It is known to 
be made up largely of Swiss guards, and so both leading 
lines feared that the other might capture them. Both 
have tried most exclusively to get them into camp, and 
the air is full of stories not at all creditable to the integ- 
rity of either bidders or the doubtful delegates. 

" When the hour for the evening session drew near 
there was no reliable understanding between the Sherman 
wing and either of the chief belligerents, and both Hale 
and Conkling had to renew the battle and take the 
chances of the many accidents which may drift the float- 
ing vote to its final destination. As soon as the doors 
were open the crowd rushed in more impetuously than 
ever before, and for the first time the mob mastered the 
excellent police force that has so admirably handled the 
seething mass of humanity that has crowded in and about 
the Exposition Building. Those admitted to the distant 
portions of the hall finally made a dash over the feeble 
partitions and at once filled all the vacant seats nearest 
the platform. Once in possession it could not be re- 
moved, and those who were too late had to take seats 



462 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

which present a view of the convention only in the dim 
distance. Conkling and Garfield came in late, as usual, 
and received the regulation cheers, much to the amuse- 
ment of the audience generally, and Hale and Frye were 
early in their places, still hopeful but evidently not con- 
fident of victory. 

" President Hoar promptly ordered the nineteenth 
ballot, and the greatest anxiety was manifested as the 
States with floating delegates were called. It was ex- 
pected that the recess would result in some combination 
in favor of Blaine or Grant, but the ballot failed to reveal 
any material change, and when the next presentetl about 
the same result it became apparent that the battle was 
to be a protracted one. The ballots were hurried along 
without anything whatever to relieve the tedious same- 
ness of calling the roll and listening to announcements, 
which would average just about even all around in any 
ten ballots. Grant started at his old 305, but Blaine fell 
down to 279, and on next trial Grant forged ahead to 
308, leaving Blaine at 276. Grant then dropped gradu- 
ally until he got down to 303 and Blaine took a spurt 
that put him up to 281, but it was evident that the ups 
and downs between them meant nothing more than str.iy 
shots from wandering pickets. The crowded audience 
was restless. The Grant and Blaine men cheered alter- 
nately, as ballots were announced showing slight gains for 
their favorites. After the twenty-seventh ballot, at 9.3(1 
V. M., Morse, of Massachusetts, anti-Grant, moved to ad- 
journ till ten to-morrow. The viva voce was nearly equal, 
and the chair declared that the ayes appeared to have it ; 
but Conkling bounced to his feet to demand a call of the 



CniCAGO CONVENTION NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT. 463 



roll, which Hale promptly seconded. The motion was 
I lien withdrawn, and the session began again. 

" The twenty-eighth ballot gave Grant 307, within one 
of his highest vote, and Blaine 279, being below his aver- 
age. Mr. Morse, another Massachusetts Edmunds man. 
then renewed the motion to adjourn, and the chair was 
about to declare it carried when Conkling rose hastily 
and demanded a roll-call, which was promptly seconded 
by the Grant men of Kentucky. The Blaine men were 
sick of the unequal contest, and Ilale, who had joined 
Conkling half an hour before to oppose adjournment, in 
order to exhibit pluck, sat still, and the field was quickly 
marshalled for a suspension of active hostilities." 

The following table shows the result of the day's bal- 
loting, the first ballot being given in detail : 



States. 


H 
< 

O 




< 

K 


Q 


c 

Q 


« 
P 

« 

CO 

< 


Alabama 


10 

13 

6 

8 

(! 

24 

1 

"4 
20 

8 

'? 
3 


1 
i2 

3 



's 

10 
20 


1 
2 

14 

7 


3 

'8 
2 

'3 


'2 
2 


'2 
26 






Arkansas 




California ...*..... 




Colorado 




Connecticut 


7 


Delaware 




Florida 




Georo'ia 




lllinoia 


8 


Indiana 


1 


Iowa 




Kansas 




Kentucky 




Louisiana 




Maine 




Maryland 

Massachusetts 


i 


Carried forward 


115 


118 


26 


22 


. 


17 



4Gt 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



States. 


< 


;z; 


< 


CO* 

a 

'A 

Q 


o 

Q 


D 

a 

CO 

•< 


Brouglit forward 


llo 
1 

G 
29 

51 
6 

• • 

32 

13 
IG 
11 

18 


118 
21 

'4 

6 

6 

10 

16 

17 

9 

6 

23 

8 

6 
2 

3 

8 
7 
2 
1 
1 
2 



2 

1 

1 
1 


26 
6 

2 

14 
34 

3 

"i 

1 

2 

i 

*3 


22 

1 


io 

■ ' 


17 


Micliis^an 




Minnesota 




Mississippi 




Missouri 




Nebraska 




Nevada 




New Hampshire 

New Jersey 




New Yorli 




North Carolina 




Ohio 




Oreefon 




Pennsylvania 




Kliode Island 




South Carolina 








Texas 




Virginia 








Wisconsin 








Dakota 








Idaho 








New Mexico 




Utah 




Washington 














304 


284 


93 


34 


10 


30 









2d. 


3d. 


4th. 


5th. 


6th. 


7th. 


8th. 


9th. 


10th. 


Utanc 


305 


305 


305 


305 


305 


305 


306 


308 


305 


Blaine 


282 
94 


282 
93 


281 
95 


281 
95 


2S1 
95 


281 
94 


284 
91 


282 
90 


282 
92 


Sherman 


Edmunds 


32 


32 


32 


32 


31 


32 


31 


31 


31 


Washburn© 


31 


31 


30 


30 


31 


31 


32 


32 


33 


Windom 


10 


10 


10 


10 


10 


10 


10 


10 


10 


Garfield 


• • 


1 
1 


1 

• • 


1 

• • 


2 

• • 


2 

• • 


1 

• • 


2 

• • 


2 
1 


Harrison 



CHICIGO CONVENTION NOMINATED fUR PRESIDENT. 465 





11th. 


12th. 


13th. 


14th. 


15th. 


IGth. 


17th. 


18th. 


19th 


Grant 


306 


304 


305 


305 


308 


306 


303 


305 


305 


Blaine. ! 


281 


283 


285 


285 


281 


283 


284 


283 


279 


Sherman 


93 


92 


89 


89 


88 


88 


90 


91 


96 


Edmunds 


31 


31 


31 


31 


31 


31 


81 


31 


31 


Wasbbume 


32 


33 


33 


35 


36 


36 


36 


35 


33 


Wiudom 


11 


10 


10 


10 


10 


10 


10 


10 


10 


Garfield 


2 


1 


1 


, , 


, , 


, , 


, , 


, , 


1 


Hartrauft 


. a 


, , 


• • 


• • 


• • 


• • 


• • 


• • 


1 


Hayes 


1 


1 


• • 


* • 


• • • • 


• • 


• • 


• • 


• • 


McCrary 


• • 


• • 


1 


• • 


• • • • 


• • 


• • 


' • 


• • 


Davis 


• • 

20th. 


21st. 


22d. 


23d. 


24th. 


35th. 


1 

26th. 


27th. 






38th 


Grant 


308 


305 


305 


304 


305 


303 


303 


300 


307 


Blaine 


276 


276 


275 


275 


279 


281 


280 


277 


379 


Sherman 


93 


96 


97 


97 


93 


94 


93 


93 


91 


Edmunds 


31 


31 


31 


31 


31 


31 


31 


31 


31 


Washburne 


35 


35 


35 


36 


35 


35 


36 


36 


35 


Windom 


10 


10 


10 


10 


10 


10 


10 


10 


10 


Garfield 


1 


1 


1 


2 


2 


2 


3 


2 


3 


Hartranft 


1 


1 


1 


.. 






.. 







The adjournment was carried over Grant's steady 303, 
and the battle was transferred again to the lobbies of the 
Chicago hotels. 

The convention met again at eleven o'clock on the 
morning of June 8th, After the opening prayer the call 
of the States was ordered for the twenty-ninth ballot for 
President. There was a disturbance at the outset over 
the vote of Alabama. It was announced by the chair- 
man, George Turner, as it had been cast all day yester- 
day ; but it appeared that Alexander, one of the Grant 
delegates, was not in the hall, but had asked the chair- 
man to cast his vote. Objection being made the roll 0/ 
individual delegates was called, and as no alternate ap- 
peared, Grant lost one vote. It required a quarter of an 
hour to settle this dispute, and there was- no further epi- 

30 



466 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

tfode until Massachusetts was reached, when the nineteGn 
Edmunds votes of yesterday were turned over to Sher- 
man and created some excitement as being an indication, 
though slight, that the convention might break. The 
split in the Minnesota vote following immediately after, 
and giving Blaine three of the Windom delegates, was 
the signal for a renewal of the excitement, and consid- 
erable npplause followed. A little farther on the result 
shewed that Grant had got the Sherman votes in Missis- 
sippi, but there was nothing in the ballot to indicate that 
any such missionary work had been done during the ^ 
night as to give prompt settlement to the great contro- 
versy. During this call Virginia and West Virginia both 
insisted upon an individual call, and it transpired that 
the Sherman delegate from West Virginia who was yes- 
terday missing was on hand. The result of the ballot 
was loudly cheered by Ohio people and the Sherman men 
in general. It was getting their favorite ahead. The 
ballot resulted in 305 votes for Grant, 278 for Blaine, 
116 for Sherman, 12 for Edmunds, 35 for Washburne, 7 
for Windom, and 2 for Garfield. 

" There were some indications as the thirtieth ballot 
progressed that the lesser candidates were giving way. 
Blaine took two of Washburne's Illinois votes, and Blaine 
got three jnore of the Windom votes from Minnesota, mak- 
ing six of that lot for him. Great amusement was ere 
ated toward the close of this ballot by the announcement 
of one vote for Gen. Phil Sheridan in Wyoming. Sheri- 
dan was on the stage, near the chair, and when he was a 
moment after discovered by the people, a shout went up 
from all over the house, and Sheridan finally arose and 



CHICAGO CONVENTION NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT. 467 

said that he was very much obliged, but he couldn't take 
tjie nomination unless he were permitted to turn it over 
to his best friend. The galleries saw the point of this, 
since Sheridan's best friend is Grant, and all the Grant 
delegates made the best of the opportunity by an out- 
burst of enthusiasm. The chair also detected the point, 
and said that while the distinguished soldier had been 
given permission to interrupt the order of the conven- 
tion it would be. granted no one else. 

'• On the thirty-first ballot two more of the Indiana 
votes left Blaine and went to Washburne. The Indi- 
ana men never were very stiff for Blaine, and have been 
waiting a chance to get away to somebody else. On this 
ballot also Thompson, of the Pennsylvania delegation, 
left Garfield and went to Grant, giving the third-termers 
35 votes in that delegation. Caleb Taylor had been got 
around to Blaine, while Grier was holding the Garfield 
boom level, although he was entirely alone in his vote for 
the Ohio man. New Mexico kept up the good-nature of 
the galleries on this ballot by giving Conkling one vote. 
The result of the ballot was inspiring to the Grant men, 
and Conkling did his share of the cheering. Five more of 
Blaine's Indiana votes got away on the succeeding ballot, 
going to swell the Washburne column. Farther down 
the list he lost two from Wisconsin in the same way, and 
a cloud came over the Blaine side of the house. There 
was a hurried conference of the Maine senator's leaders 
in the aisle near where the Maine delegates sat, and it 
was a thoroughly dispirited crowd when the ballot was 
announced showing Grant's highest and Blaine's lowest. 
There was no ignoring the fact that the Grant lines 



468 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

could not be broken, and that the Blaine lines were at 
this time wavering. It was apparent the convention was 
on the edge of a break. The thirty-third ballot, which 
was finished at half-past twelve, was without exciting 
, vent, and with the exception of a little cheer when the 
Sherman votes of Alabama were cast for Blaine, waf 
monotonous. About this time the Blaine managers be- 
gan to get their men back into the lines, and a few 
scattering delegates, who were beginning to fear the 
solidity of the Grant column, turned in from their dark 
horses to Blaine. They didn't want Blaine, but they 
were not willing to see him crowded entirely off the 
track while Grant hung on. 

" The close of the thirty-fourth ballot was marked 
by excitement, growing out of Wisconsin's 16 votes for 
Garfield. It was the beginning of the end. To make 
up this bunch, Washburne, Blaine, and Sherman had been 
drawn upon. This ballot brought Grant's vote up to 312, 
and served to arouse the Grant enthusiasm. Garfield 
here arose and addressed the chair. The chairman in- 
quired for what purpose the gentleman rose. ' To a ques- 
tion of order,' said Garfield. ' The gentleman will state 
it,' said the chair. 

" ' I challenge,' said Mr. Garfield, ' the correctness of 
the announcement that contains votes for me. No man 
has a right, without the consent of the person voted for, 
to have his name announced and voted for in this con- 
vention. Such consent I have not given.' 

" This was overruled by the chairman amidst laughter 
against Garfield, who had made the point on the vote cast 
for him by Wisconsin. 



CHICAGO CONVJ^-NTION — NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT. 109 

'' The thirty-fifth was the most interesting ballot ot 
the Jay so far. The call was quick, people had begun to 
show i'>etter spirits, and when the 27 Indianians, who had 
been looking around for some way out, cast themselves 
for Garfield, there was a deafening shout, and Garfield's 
seat was immediately surrounded. Maryland followed 
with four for the Ohio dark horse, and Wisconsin for a 
second time turned in sixteen of her votes solid for him. 
It was apparent that the Blaine movement had broken 
up, and the friends of Grant and Garfield had the cheer- 
ing to themselves at the end of this ballot. 

*' The call of the States for the thirty-sixth ballot be- 
gan amidst considerable excitement. Everybody saw that 
Blaine was now out of the way, and it was a matter of 
beating Grant so far as the opposition was concerned. It 
was evident, too, that it would have to be done with Gar- 
field, and Connecticut led off on this ballot with 11 votes 
for him. The most of the Washburne vote of Illinois fol- 
lowed this, and when Indiana was called. General Harri- 
Bon cast 29 'of her 30 votes for Garfield. The storm at 
this point broke. The people rose up and gave one tre- 
mendous cheer, and hats and handkerchiefs were tossed 
high, as they had so often been before. The confusion 
had not fairly subsided when Iowa followed with 22 votes 
for Garfield, and the outburst was renewed and gained in 
force with every fresh start. A little farther down Maine 
cast her 14 votes for the Ohio man, and the cheering was 
greater than ever. The confusion was so great that it 
was almost impossible to go on with the call. The dele- 
gations of Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, 
and Mississippi each insisted upon an individual roll-call, 



i70 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

and the Blaine and Sherman votes nearly all turned up 
for Garfield. Conkling was dodging about a good deal at 
ihis time, but it dawned upon the Grant men that all was 
up with them. They were well disciplined, however, and 
hung together all the way down the call. It was getting 
down to Pennsylrania. Cameron sat imperturbable in 
the midst of his delegates, and was repeatedly urged to 
cast the solid Pennsylvania delegation for Blaine on this 
ballot. This would have prevented the nomination of 
Garfield on that ballot, at least, and might have stayed 
the Garfield cyclone by getting Blaine back on the track ; 
but Cameron at this time would not acknowledge that 
Garfield could go through as he did go. 

" Ohio was finally called. The delegation had been 
thrown into confusion, and it was some time in getting 
around, but it finally turned up with forty-three for Gar- 
field, the missing delegate being Garfield himself. The 
convention relapsed into cheers again, but recovered in a 
moment to hear General Beaver announce the Pennsyl- 
vania vote as thirty-seven for Grant, twenty-one for Gar 
field. Gordon had swung around to Grant, and Hays, 
w^io had voted for Bhdne, felt himself released when 
Maine virtually put him out of the field, and went with 
the Grant people. The Grant men got in a little cheer 
here, but it was of short life. As the call went on, as 
well as it could in the confusion, the Blaine delegates 
wheeled into line for Garfield. Vermont was wildly 
cheered when the ten Edmunds votes swung around, and 
Wisconsin's eighteen following shortly after, gave the 
man from Ohio a majority of the whole number. 

" The thousands had kept tally and knew this. Therd 



CHICAGO CONVENTION NOMINATED FOR PRESILENT. 471 

was a momentary hush, as if the seven or eight thousand 
people were taking breath, and then the storm burst, and 
wliile the cheering went on the banners of the several 
States were borne to the place where Ohio's delegatioB 
sat, Garfield in the midst of them, and there was a scene 
almost equal to that of midnight on Friday. The band 
was playing ' The Battle-Cry of Freedom,' at the lower 
end of the hall, and when the cheering subsided for a mo- 
ment, the air was taken up and sung in chorus by thou- 
sands of voices. Everywhere flags were waving, and on 
the outside of the buildina' cannon were boomin<? and 
thousands were cheering. This went on for a quarter of 
an hour, during which time Conkling sat in his place at 
the head of his delegation without show of emotion of any 
sort. Efforts were made to get Garfield out, but he re- 
mained hidden in the midst of his Ohio friends. 

" After Wisconsin the call of the Territories had little 
interest, and was conducted in the midst of the greatest 
confusion. The call for the first time was verified by a 
re-reading of the votes, and at the announcement of the 
result there was another outburst. The changes in the 
vote by which the nomination was reached are shown in 
the following table : 

29th. 30tli. 31st. 32d. 33d. 84th. 85th. 36th. 

Orant 305 306 308 309 809 313 313 306 

lilaiue 278 279 276 270 276 275 257 42 

t^herman 116 120 119 117 110 107 99 3 

Edmunds 12 11 11 11 11 11 11 

Waahburue 35 33 31 44 44 30 23 6 * 

Windom 7 4 3 3 4 4 3 

Garfield 2 2 1 1 1 17 50 399 

Sheridan 1 .. .. .. .. .. .. 

Couklins; ,. 1 .. .. .. .. .. 



472 JAIilElS A. GARFIELD. 

" After the cinnouncement the band played the * Con- 
quering Hero/ and the people again stood upon the 
benches and hurrahed and yelled in the same old wny. 
In the midst of' this the tall form of Logan rose up, and 
he sought to be heard. Conkling was standing in the 
aisle, asking the attention of the chair. As soon as order 
was restored, Conkling was recognized, and in a husky 
voice, sadly in contrast with his tones of the past five 
days, asked to have the nomination of Garfield made 
unanimous. He was loudly cheered. His speech was as 
follows : 

" ' Mr. Chaii-man : James A. Garfield, of Ohio, having 
received a majority of all the votes cast, I rise to move 
that he be unanimously presented as the nominee of the 
convention. The chair, under the rules, anticipated me, 
but being on my feet I avail myself of the ojDportunity 
to congratulate the Republican party of the nation on 
the good-natured and well-tempered disposition which 
has distinguished this animated convention. [Cries of 
* Louder !'• from the galleries.] I should like to sj)eak 
louder, but having sat here under a cold wind I find 
myself unable to do so. I was about to say, Mr. Chair- 
man, that I trust that the zeal, the fervor, and now the 
unanimity of the scenes of the convention will be trans- 
planted to the field of the country, and that all of us 
who have borne a part against each other will be found 
jvith equal zeal bearing the banners and carrying the 
*ances of the Republican party into the ranks of the 
enemy.' [Applause.] 

'• Conkling was followed by Logan, who spoke in the 
midst of calls for Garfield, but Garfield could not be 



CHICAGO CONVENTION NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT. 473 

iiiiliiced to show himself, and Logan got a chance finally 
to go on with a speech after the manner of Conkling. 
He said : 

" ^ Gentlemen of the Convention : We are to be con- 
gratulated at having arrived at a conclusion in respect 
to presenting the name of a candidate to be the standard- 
bearer of the Republican party for President of the 
United States in union and harmony with each other. 
Whatever may have transpired in this convention that 
may have produced feelings of annoyance will be, I hope, 
considered as a matter of the past. I, with the friends 
of one of the grandesit men on the face of the earth, 
stood here to fight a friendly battle for his nomination, 
but this convention has chosen another leader, and the 
men who stood by Grant will be seen in the front of the 
contest for Mr. Garfield. [Cheers.] We will go for- 
ward in the contest, not with tied hands, not vi^ith 
sealed lips, not with bridled tongues, but to speak the 
truth in favor of the grandest party that has ever been 
organized in this country, to maintain its principles, to 
uphold its {;)Ower, to preserve its ascendancy, and my 
judgment is that, with the leader whom you have chosen, 
victory will perch on our banners. [Cheers.] As one 
of the Republicans frum Illinois I second the nomina 
tiou of James A. Garfield, and hope it will be made 
unanimous.' [Cheers.] 

" After this. General Beaver, from the head of the 
Pennsylvania delegation, was heard. He referred to 
Pennsylvania as having first put Garfield in nomination, 
and stood by him with one vote when there were no 
others for him, and he promised the largest majority that 



174 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

Pennsylvania has given at a Presidential election in re 
cent years. Here is his speech : 

" ' The State of Pennsylvania having had the honor 
of first nominating in this convention the gentleman 
who has been chosen as the standard-bearer of the 
Republican party in the approaching national contest, 
I rise to second the motion which has been made to 
make the nomination unanimous, and to assure this 
convention and the people of the country that Penn- 
sylvania is heartily in accord with the nomination 
[cheers] ; that she gives her full concurrence to it, 
and that this country may expect from her the greatest 
majority that has been given for a Presidential candidate 
in many years.' 

" Mr. Hale, of Maine, said : ^ Standing here to re- 
turn our heartfelt thanks to the many men in this con- 
vention who have aided us in the fight that we made 
for the Senator from Maine, and speaking for them here, 
as 1 know that I do, I say this most heartily. We have 
not got the man whom we hoped to nominate when we 
came here, but we have got a man in whom we have the 
greatest and most marked confidence. The nominee of 
tnis convention is no new or untried man, and in that 
respect he is no "dark horse." When he came here, 
representing his State in the front of his delegation and 
was seen here every man knew him, because of his 
record ; and because of that and because of our faith in 
him, and because we were, in the emergency, glad to 
help make him the candidate of the Republican party 
for President of the United States, — because, I say, of 
these things, I shall stand here to pledge the Maine 



CHICAGO CONVENTION NOMINAIED FOR PRESIDENT. 475 

forces in this convention to earnest effort from now until 
the ides of November to help carry him to the Presi 
dential chair.' [Cheers.] 

" Then Hale brought all the Blaine folks into this ap 
parent love-feast. A Texas delegate, one of those old 
Whigs who don't intend to cut their hair until Henry 
Clay is elected President, also agreed to the candidate. 
But he did go so far as to promise the vote of Texas to 
him. General Harrison, who said he was the only de- 
feated candidate for President on the floor, because his 
misguided friend from Pennsylvania, meaning Caleb Tay- 
lor, did not have staying powers, promised Indiana to 
Garfield. At this time there were immense crowds in 
every part of the hall, particularly on the stage and the 
press platform, and when the nomination was made unani- 
mous, people couldn't be made to keep still. Some of 
those in a hurry wanted to go right on with the nomina- 
tion, but General Harrison, at about half-past two, got a 
recess till five o'clock, as he said, for consultation." 

The convention reassembled in the afternoon. The 
nomination of a candidate for Vice-President of the 
United States was the business on hand. 

California presented E. B. Washburne ; Connecticut 
brought out ex-Governor Jewell ; Florida handed in the 
name of Judge Settle ; Tennessee urged Horace May- 
nard. But these attracted little attention, and it was not 
until General Woodford, of New York, arose and nomi- 
nated Chester A. Arthur, that the convention began to 
wake up. 

A ballot was finally reached, the galleries cheering 
every mention of Washburne's name. The result of the 



476 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



ballot was so generally foreseen that no particular con- 
cern was manifested over the result. There was some 
cheering, but the enthusiasm of this extraordinary con- 
vention had about worn out. The ballot stood : Arthur, 
468; Washburne, 19; Maynard, 30 ; Jewell, 44 ; Bruce,' 
8 ; Woodford, 1 ; Davis, 2. The Pennsylvania vote was' 
given— 47 to Arthur, 11 to Washburne. The nomina- 
tion of Arthur was made unanimous on motion of Cali- 
fornia, and then the convention fell to passing a lot of 
resolutions of compliment to everybody, after which a 
committee of one from each State, with Senator Hoar for 
chairman, was appointed to notify the candidates of their 
nomination. Filley, of Missouri, then, explaining that 
life IS short, got in a motion to adjourn, which was 
adopted, and people dispersed for good. 

The following is the Platform, or Declaration of Prin 
ciples, adopted by the Convention; 

" The Ptepublican party in National Convention as- 
sembled, at the end of twenty years since the Federal 
Government was first committed to its charge, submits to 
the people of the United States this brief report of its 
administration. It suppressed rebellion, which had armed 
nearly a million of men to subvert the national authority. 
It reconstructed the union of the States, with freedom in- 
stead of slavery as its corner-stone. It transformed four 
million human beings from the likeness of things to the 
mnk of citizens. It relieved Congress from the infamous 
work of hunting fugitive slaves, and charged it to see that 
slavery does not exist. It has raised the value of our 
currency from thirty-eight per cent, to the par of gold. 
It has restored upon a solid basis payment in coin for all 



CHICAGO CONVENTION NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT. 477 

the national obligations, and has given us a currency 
absolutely good and equal in every part of our extended 
countr}^ It has lifted the care of the nation from the 
point from where 6 per cent, bonds sold at 86 to that 
where 4 per cent, bonds are eagerly sought at a premium 
under its administration ; railways have increased from 
81,000 miles in 1860 to more than 82,000 miles in 1879 ; 
our foreign trade has increased from $700,000,000 to 
$1,150,000,000 in the same time, and our exports, which 
were $20,000,000 less than our imports in 1860, were 
$264,000,000 more than our imports in 1879. Without 
-esorting to loans it has, since the war closed, defrayed 
the ordinary expenses of government, besides the accru- 
ing interest on the public debt, and dispersed annually 
more than $30,000,000 for soldiers' pensions. It has 
paid $888,000,000 of the public debt, and by refunding 
the balance at lower rates has reduced the annual interest 
charges from nearly $151,000,000 to less than $89,000,- 
000. All the industries of the country have revived, 
labor is in demand, wages have increased, and through 
out the entire country there is evidence of a coming pros- 
perity greater than we have ever enjoyed. Upon this' 
record the Republican party asks for the continued confi- 
dence and support of the people, and this convention sub- 
mits for their approval the following statements of the 
principle and purposes which will continue to guide and 
inspire its efforts : 

" First. We affirm that the work of the last twenty- 
one years has been such as to commend itself to the favor 
of the nation, and that the fruits of the costl}' victory 
which we have achieved throu2;h immense difficulties^ 



i78 JAMES A. GAB FIELD. 

Bhould be preserved ; after that the peace regained should 
be cherished ; that the dissevered Union now happily 
restored should be perpetuated, and that the liberty se- 
cured to this generation should be transmitted undimin- 
ished to future generations ; that the order established 
and the credit acquired should never be impaired ; that 
the pensions promised should be extinguished by the full 
payment of every dollar thereof; that the reviving indus- 
tries should be further promoted, and that the commerce, 
already so great, should be steadily encouraged. 

*' Second. The Constitution of the United States is a 
supreme law and not a mere contract. Out of confeder- 
ated States it made a sovereign nation. Some powers 
are denied to the nation while others are denied to the 
States, but the boundary between the powers delegated 
and those reserved is to be determined by the National 
and not by the State tribunals. 

" Third. The work of popular education is left to the 
care of the several States, but it is the duty of the Na 
tional Government to aid that work to the extent of its 
constitutional duty. The intelligence of the nation is 
but the aggregate of the intelligence of the several States, 
and the destiny of the nation must not be guided by the 
genius of any one State, but by the average genius of all. 

^^ Fourth. The Constitution wisely forbids Congress 
to make any law respecting an establishment of religion, 
but it is idle to hope that the nation can be protected 
against the influence of sectarianism while each State is 
exposed to its domination. We therefore recommend 
that the Constitution be so amended as to lay the same 
prohibition upon the legislature of each State and to for 



CHICAGO CONVEKfTION NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT. 479 

bid the appropriation of public funds to the support of 
sectarian schools. 

''Fifth. We affirm the belief, avowed in 1876, that 
the duties levied for the purpose of revenue should so 
discriminate as to favor American labor. That no further 
grant of the public domain should be made to any rail- 
way or other corporation ; that slavery having perished 
in the States, its twin barbarity, poly,£>;amy, must die in 
the Territories. That everywhere the protection accorded 
to citizens of American birth must be secured to citizens 
by American adoption, and that we esteem it the duty 
of Congress to develop and improve our watercourses 
and harbors, but that further subsidies to private per 
sons or corporations must cease ; that the obligations 
of the Republic to tlie men who preserved its integrity 
in the hour of battle are undiminished by the lapse of 
fifteen years since their final victory ; to do them perpet- 
ual honor is and shall forever be the grateful privilege 
and saored duty of the American people. 

" k^Axtli. Since the authority to regulate immigration 
and intercourse between the United States and foreiirn 
nations rests with Congress, or with the United States 
and its treaty-making power, the Republican party, re- 
garding the unrestricted emigration of Chinese as an evil 
of great magnitude, invoke the exercise of those powers 
to restrain and limit that immigration by the enactment 
of such just, humane, and reasonable provisions as will 
produce that result. 

" Seventh. That the purity and patriotism which char- 
acterize the earlier career of Rutherford B. Hayes in 
peace and war, and which guided the thoughts of our im- 



IftO JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

mediate predecessors to him for a Presidential candidvite 
have contimied to inspire him in his career as Chief Ex- 
ecutive, and that history will accord to his administration 
the honors which are due to an efficient, just, and cour- 
teous discharge of the public business, and will honor his 
interpositions between the people and proposed partisan 
laws. 

" Eighth. We charge upon the Democratic party the 
habitual sacrifice of patriotism and justice to a supremo 
and insatiable lust of office and patronage ; that to obtain 
possession of the National and State Governments and 
the control of place and position they have obstructed all 
effort to promote the purity and to conserve the freedom 
of suffraGre, and have devised fraudulent certifications and 
returns, have labored to unseat lawfully elected members 
of Congress to secure at all hazards the vote of a majority 
of the States in the House of Representatives ; have en- 
deavored to occupy by force and fraud the places of trust 
given to others by the people of Maine, and rescued by 
the courage in action of Maine's patriotic sons ; have by 
methods vicious in principle and tyrannical in practice at- 
tached partisan legislation to bills upon whose passage the 
ver}'- movements of government depend ; have crushed 
the rights of individuals, have advocated the principle and 
sought the favor of rebelhon against the nation, and have 
endeavored to obliterate the sacred memories of the war 
and to overcome its inestimable valuable results of nation 
ality, personal freedom, and individual equality. The 
equal, steady, and complete enforcement of laws and the 
protection of all our citizens in the enjoyment of all privi- 
leges and communities guaranteed by the Constitutior 



CHICAGO CONVENTION NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT. 481 

are the first duties of the nation. The dangers of a solid 
South can only be averted by a faithful performance of 
every promise which the nation has made to the citizens ; 
the execution of the laws and the punishment of all those 
who violate them are the only safe methods by which an 
enduring peace can be secured and genuine prosperity es- 
tablished throughout the South. Whatever promises the 
nation makes the nation must perform;, and the nation 
cannot with safety delegate this duty to the States. The 
solid South must be divided by the powerful agencies of 
the ballot, and all opinions must there find free expres- 
sion, and to this end the honest voters must be protected 
against terrorism, violence, and fraud. And we affirm it 
to be the duty and the purpose of the Republican party 
to use every legitimate means to restore all the States of 
this Union to the most perfect harmony as may be prac- 
ticable; and we submit to the practical, sensible people 
of the United States to say whether it would not be 
dangerous to the dearest interests of our country at this 
time to surrender the administration of the National 
Gfovernment to a party which seeks to overthrow the ex- 
isting policy under which we are so prosperous, and thus 
bring distrust and confusion where there is now order, 
confidence, and hope." 

The following resolution was added to the platform : 
" The Republican party, adhering to the principles 
affirmed by its last national convention of respect for 
the constitutional rules governing appointment to office, 
adopts the declaration of President Hayes, that the re- 
form in the civil service shall be thorough, radical, and 
complete. To that end it demands the co-operation of 

31 



482 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

the legislative with the executive departments of the 
Government, and that Congress shall so legislate that 
fitness, ascertained by proper practical tests, shall admit 
to the public service." 

The correspondent of the New York Tribune wrote 
as follows concerning the scene attending the nomina- 
tion of General Garfield : 

" When General Harrison mounted on his chair and 
called out that Indiana, out of 30 votes, gave 29 for 
Garfield, neither the convention nor the galleries could 
contain themselves any longer. There was a universal 
uproar; half the convention rose to its feet. Leaders 
of all factions ran hurriedly hither and thither through 
the convention ; and, while the building was resound- 
ing with loud cheers for Garfield, there was a cluster 
of excited delegates about the general himself, who, 
sat quiet and cool in his ordinary place at the end 
of one of the rows of seats in the Ohio delegation, hav- 
ing his own seat in the middle aisle near the very rear 
of the convention. 

" He wore the white badge of an Ohio delegate on 
his coat, and held his massive head steadily immovable. 
But for an appearance of extra resoluteness on his face, 
as that of a man who was repressing internal excite- 
ment, he might have been supposed to have as little 
interest in the proceedings as any other delegate on the 
jloor of the convention. He was, in fact, going through 
one of the most extraordinary experiences ever given to 
an American citizen. He was being struck by Presi- 
dential lightning while sitting in the body which was 
to nominate him. He was being nominated for Presi 



CHICAGO CONVENTION — NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT. 483 

dent at half-past one o'clock in the afternoon, when he 
could hardly have dreamed of such a thing at nine 
o'clock in the morning. 

" There has been no such dramatic incident in poli- 
tics, for a great many years at least, except possibly the 
nomination of Horatio Seymour in 1868. Entirely apart 
from all political considerations, it was an extraordinary 
and impressive incident to see this quiet man suddenly 
wheeled by a popular sentiment into the position of 
standard-bearer to the great Republican party, and in 
all probability into the Presidency itself, with its great 
power and world-wide fame. All this while the crowd 
had been cheering, and the elements of the convention 
were dissolving and crystallizing in an instant of time. 

"Where the Sherman vote was going, whether 
simply by force of drifting or not, was apparent enough 
when a North Carolina delegate seized the banner of 
his State and waved it towards the Ohio delegation, all 
of whom were on their feet. The situation was indeed 
peculiar. General Grarfield had entered the convention 
as the loyal representative of Secretary Sherman, who 
was still a candidate. The Ohio delegation, most of 
whom were warm friends of both men, were in honor 
bound to support Mr. Sherman so long as there was any 
possibility of his nomination. General Garfield had, like 
a trutliful and honorable gentleman, set his face from 
the first against all suggestions that he should become a 
candidate, feeling that any yielding to such suggestions 
would be rankly disloyal to the friend he had come to 
support. Now he was being forced into the field in spite 
of himself, and the indications were that his own vote 



484 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

would soon surpass that of his candidate. The Ohio 
delegation were seen to be in anxious, flurried consulta- 
tion about General GarfiekVs chair, ex-Governor Den- 
nison, Congressman Butterworth, and Major Bickham 
being prominent in the group. 

"Nothing seemed to come of it, however, and when 
the crowd had been quieted down the secretary was 
again in his place, ready to resume the roll-call. When 
he called * Iowa ' every ear was strained to hear the 
repl}^, which had to travel from the farthest limit of the 
body of delegates. The 22 votes of that State had been 
cast on every ballot for James G. Blaine, and if these 
votes should be cast for Garfield, it would prove that the 
instantaneous fusion of the anti-Grant elements of the 
convention was complete. When the chairman of the 
delegation called out that Iowa cast 22 votes for James 
A. Garfield, a wild storm of cheering broke out, which 
after a few moments died away, while there was a re- 
newal of the hasty and whispered consultation among the 
Ohio delegates about General Garfield's chair. Suddenly 
the Ohio delegation broke out in cries and applause, and 
an electric cheer spread from them as a centre in an in- 
stant all over the convention, telling without any need of 
words that Ohio's new candidate had replaced the old; 
that Secretary Sherman had been withdrawn, and that, 
with the full consept of his friends, Garfield was a can- 
didate. 

" From this time the votes split off between Grant 
and Garfield almost without exception, the roll-call pro- 
ceeding amid the growing exultation of the anti-Grant 
men, who thought they eaw victory before them. Kan- 



CHICAGO CONVENTION — NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT. 485 

sas gave its 6 Blaine votes to Garfield, Grant's 4 votes 
standing firm. In Kentucky the Blaine votes came to 
Garfield. Every Garfield vote now was applauded, while 
Mr. Conkling watched the secretary with a cold eye. 
Senator Kellogg cast the vote of Louisiana, 8 for Garfield 
8 for Grant. When Maine was called, Mr. Hale arose, 
looking sad, to be sure, but still with his accustomed air 
of quiet resolution, and cast those 14 votes, that repre- 
sented so much loyal affection for James G. Blaine, for 
James A. Garfield, of Ohio. There was a great cheer at 
this for the men from Maine, with many expressions of 
sympathy for their keen disappointment passing through 
the throng. Almost the whole body of the convention 
was up hurrahing at the rate of three times three a 
minute. Garfield was nominated." 



CHAPTER XI. 

QENERAIi GARFIELD SINCE THE CHICAGO CONVENTION. 

rhe Nomination unBOUgrht by General Garfield — Congratulatory Telegrams 
— How the News was received in Congress — Scene in the House — Gen- 
eral Garfield notified of his Nomination — His Reply — Returns Home- 
Reception at Cleveland — General Garfield presides at the Reunion of 
Hiram College — His Speech on that Occasion — A Glance at the Past — 
Reception at Mentor — Visit to Painesville — General Garfield addresses 
his Neighbors — Sunday at Home — General Garfield returns to Wash- 
ington City — His Journey — A Serenade at Washington — Speech of Gen- 
eral Garfield— Adjournment of Congress— Fourth of July Speech at 
Painesville — General Garfield's Letter accepting the Nomination for the 
Presidency — Personal Characteristics— General Garfield's Washington 
Home — The Farm at Mentor— The Garfield Family. 

General Garfield's nomination for the Presidency had 
come to him entirely unsought. He had loyally sup- 
ported the claims of Secretary Sherman to the office, and 
had discountenanced all attempts to put himself forward 
as a candidate for the high honor. The convention, how- 
ever, had seen fit to nominate him in spite of his reluc 
tance. The nomination gave great satisfaction through 
©ut the country, and it was universally admitted that the 
choice of the convention was the best that could have 
been made. 

The following telegrams were received by General 
Garfield immediately after the nomination was made : 



SINCE THE CONVENTION. 487 

*' Executive Mansion, Washington, June 8. 
" General James A. Garfield : — You will receive no 
heartier congratulation to-day than mine. This both for 
your own and your country's sake. " R. B. Hayes." 

" Washington, D. 0. 
" Hon. James A. Garfield : — Accept my hearty con- 
gratulation. The country is to be congratulated, as well 
as yourself. " C. Schurz." 

Dispatches to like effect were also received from 
other members of the Cabinet. 

"Washington, June 8. 
** Hon. James A. Garfield, Chicago : — I congratulate 
you with all my heart upon your nomination as President 
of the United States. You have saved the Republican 
party and the country from a great peril and assured 
the continued success of Republican principles. 

" John Sherman." 

"Washington, Tuesday — 1,45 p. m. 
" Hon. James A. Garfield, Chicago : — Maine's vote, 
this moment cast for you, goes with my hearty concur- 
rence. I hope it will aid in securing your nomination 
and assuring victory to the Republican party. 

" James G. Blaine." 

General Garfield replied as follows : 

" Chicago, June 8. 
" Hon. J. G. Blaine, Washington : — Accept my thanks 
for your generous despatch. " James A. Garfield." 



^88 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

The scene in the House of Representatives, Washing- 
ton, on receipt of the news of Gen. Garfield's nomination, 
is thus described in the Associated Press despatches : 

" The House passed a whole batch of private bills to- 
day. Finally a public-building bill was called up and 
objected to, whereupon Mr. Hooker emphatically declared 
his intention of objecting to every proposition presented. 
A noisy discussion ensued, and the confusion was in- 
creased by the Chicago despatches which were coming in 
announcing the large additions to Garfield's vote. Order 
was only secured when Blackburn (Kentucky) presented 
the report of the conference committee on the post-office 
appropriation bill, which report was agreed to. Mr, 
Hooker adhered to his intention of objecting to every 
proposition, and a motion was made to adjourn. During 
the calling of the roll there was a great deal of excite- 
ment shown by the members over the convention news, 
and when Garfield's name was called it was greeted with 
applause on both the Republican and Democratic side of 
the chamber. 

" The announcement which came in soon afterward 
that Garfield was nominated was received with loud 
cheers and applause from the members who had assem- 
bled in the lobby back of the Speaker's desk, and the 
confusion was so great that the roll-call was interrupted. 
Members gathered in groups and discussed the nominal 
tion of Garfield, which appeared to meet with almost 
universal approval from the Republicans, and was con- 
ceded by the Democrats to be a strong one. The second 
call of Garfield's name was the signal for a burst of ap- 
plause from the Republicans. 



SINCE THE CONVENTION. 



489 



" The motion was finally carried, and accordingly, the 
House at 2.30 adjourned. Cheers for Garfield were then 
given, vvhile cries of ' Speech from Hawley ' and ' Haw- 
ley for Vice-President ' went up, but that gentleman did 

not respond. 

" Mr. Robeson.— I move that General Hawley take 
the chair. This was carried unanimously amid loud 
cheers. When Hawley took the chair the House pre- 
sented a curious sight. Every chair was occupied, the 
seats of the absent members being filled by spectators 
who; upon the adjournment, had crowded into the hall, 
while in the rear of the seats were groups of men evi- 
dently full of excitement. 

" Mr. Hawley, on taking the chair, said : I beg leave 
to say that we occupy this floor with the kind consent of 
our friends on the right, who will have their opportunity 
by-and-bye. [Laughter. Cries of ' Speech ! Speech !'] 

"Mr. Hawley. — I have no speech to make. The 
nomination made at Chicago is its own speech for every 
Republican of this House, and our personal good-will goes 
with our old friend and associate. General Garfield. [Ap- 
plause.] I have no doubt from what I have seen and 
heard, that this event — this consummation — is in the 
very highest degree satisfactory to every Republican 
here, whatever may have been his personal preference. 
[Applause.] We have been warmly divided in the past ; 
we will be much more warmly united in the future. 
[Loud applause.] I think one result will be— I am sup- 
posing that there are no Democrats here — to compel an 
excellent nomination on the other side, so that the coun- 
try we all love will be certain of a good President foi 



490 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

the next four years, personally, whatever his political 
opinions may be." (Loud applause, in which the Demo- 
crats joined.) 

Mr. Robeson was loudly called. In response, that gen- 
tleman said : " As members of the American Congress — 

" A Democrat. — Both sides ? 

" Mr. Robeson, continuing. — Both sides. I think we 
have a right to congratulate the whole country that a 
man whom we all know to be a man of character and 
capacity beyond impeachment, has been nominated by 
one of the great political parties for the highest office in 
the gift of the people. [Applause.] Therefore, Mr. 
Chairman, I speak in acknowledgment in behalf of the 
House of Representatives that one of our number, con- 
spicuous before the people on account of his services on 
this floor, has been selected as the standard-bearer of 
the great political party to which I belong. That is a 
sentiment which affects neither the politics nor the feel- 
ings of anybody, and I ask everybody within the reach 
of my voice to join me in giving three cheers for the can- 
didate selected from our body as the candidate of a great 
party. [The Republicans rose and gave the three cheers 
with a will, but the Democrats, though joining in the 
cheering, retained their seats.] I move, Mr. Chairman, 
that a committee be appointed, and I suggest as its 
chairman the oldest member of the House, Judge Kelley, 
of Pennsylvania, to send by telegraph our congratulations 
to our fellow-Congressman on his nomin.ition. [Ap- 
plause.] Cries then went up for * Kelley,' and Chairman 
Hawley stated that Mr. Kelley would have occupied the 
chair, but that he had not been present." 



BINGE THE CONVENTION. 491 

*' Mr. Kel.ley. — I have been in that chair but once, 
though I have been here nineteen years, and then I felt 
so like a fool that I never got into it again. [Laughter.] 
I thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Robeson) and 
his associates on this floor for having delegated to me 
■he chairmanship of the committee to which has been 
confided so grateful a duty. I beg leave to inform the 
chairman and the House that, taking advantage of cir- 
cumstances, I slipped out when Garfield was at 338 and 
sent the following telegram : ' Accept congratulations and 
pledge of earnest support.' [Applause.] I rejoice most 
heartily in this nomination. General Garfield is a man of 
rare force of character, of wide attainments, of great sim- 
plicity, and a man who adheres as firmly as a true party 
man even may to his personal convictions ; and our friends 
on the other side, in the dejection which now overcomes 
them while a bad nomination for them is possible, will 
find satisfaction in knowing that they know the man to 
be one who will administer the government faithfully, 
fairly, and patriotically after we shall have inaugurated 
him." (Applause.) 

The chair appointed Kelley, Robeson, Browne, Martin 
(N. C), Page, Richardson (N. Y.), and Henderson (111.) 
as the committee to send a congratulatory telegram to 
Garfield. 

Mr. Richardson was appointed at the suggestion of 
Mr. Voorhees (N. Y.), who was unwilling that the great 
State of New York should not be represented on the com- 
mittee, and Henderson at the suggestion of Cannon (111.)? 
who thought that Illinois, " the third State — always Re- 
publican," should be represented. 



492 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

The meeting then, after giving three more cheers for 
Garfield, adjourned. 

The following is the full text of the telegram imme- 
diately sent to General Garfield : 

" Washington, June 8, 1880. 
" To General J. A. Garfield, Chicago : — " Under in- 
struction of your Congressional associates, assembled in 
the hall of the House of Representatives, General Haw- 
ley in the chair, we congratulate you on your nomination 
as the candidate of the great Republican party for the 
Presidency of the United States. 

" W. D. Kelley, Geo. M. Robeson, 

Thos. M. Browne, Joseph J. Martin, 

Horace F. Page, D. P. Richardson, 

Thomas J. Henderson." 

The convention appointed a committee to wait upon 
General Garfield and inform him of his nomination. This 
committee waited upon him at his rooms at the Grand 
Pacific Hotel, on the evening of the 8th of June. It 
was headed by Senator Hoar, the chairman of the con- 
vention. 

*' General Garfield," said Mr. Hoar, " the gentlemen 
present are appointed by the National Republican Con- 
vention, representatives of every State in the Union, who 
have been directed to convey to you the formal ceremo- 
nial notice of your nomination as the Republican candi- 
date for the office of President of the United States. It 
is known to you that the convention which has made this 
nomination assembled divided in opinion and in council in 
regard to the candidate. It may not be known to you 



SINCE THE CONVENTION. 49b 

with what unanimity of pleasure and of hopes the con- 
vention has received the result which it has reached. 
You represent not only the dUtinctive principles and 
opinion of the Republican party^ but you represent also 
its unity, and in the name of every State in the Union 
represented on the committee, I convey to you the as- 
surance of the cordial support of the Republican party 
of these States at the coming ebction." 

General Garfield rrpliod : " Mr. President and Gen- 
tlemen : I assure you that the information you have offi- 
cially given me hr'ny^i the sense of very grave respon- 
sibility, and especijdly so in view of the fact that I was 
a member of your body, a fact which could not have been 
so with propriety had I had the slightest expectation that 
my own name would be connected with the nomination 
for the office. I have felt with you great solicitude re- 
garding the situation of our party during the struggle, 
but believing that you are correct in assuring me that 
substantial unity has been reached in the conclusion, it 
gives me gratification far greater than any personal pleas- 
ure your announcement can bring. I accept the trust 
committed to my hands. As to the work of our party, as 
to the character of the campaign to be entered upon, I 
will take an early occasion to reply more fully than I can 
properly do now. I thank you for the assurances of con- 
fidence and esteem and unity which you have presented 
me with, and shall hope that we may see our future as 
promising as are the indications of to-night." 

General Garfield left Chicago by the Lake Shore and 
IMichigan Southern Railroad, on the morning of June 9th. 
Cleveland was reached about 8.30 in the evening. The 



494 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

journey was an unbroken ovation, General Garfield being 
received at all the points on the line by large and enthu- 
siastic crowds. Cleveland was ablaze with enthusiasm. 
After a rousing welcome at the depot, General Garfield 
was conveyed to the Kennard House as quickly as possi- 
ble, where speeches were made from the balcony by Gov- 
ernor Foster, General Ed. S. Meyer, and Judge P. F. 
Young. General Garfield said : 

" Fellow Citizens of my Native County and of my 
State : I thank you for this remarkable demonstration of 
your good-will and enthusiasm on this occasion. I can- 
not at this time proceed upon any speech. All that I 
have to say is, that I know that all this demonstration 
means your gladness of the unity and harmony and good 
feeling of a great political party, and in part your good 
feeling toward a neighbor, an old friend. For all of these 
reasons I thank you, and bid you good night." 

There was great applause and cheers. 

The 10th of June was passed pleasantly at Cleve- 
land, and on the 11th, General Garfield presided at the 
reunion of Hiram College. The trains that arrived at 
Hiram were crowded to overflowing with people, and the 
enthusiasm for the general completely overshadowed the 
interest in any of the proceedings Avhere he was not the 
central figure. The Presidential candidate received in 
the morning a number of congratulatory and business tele- 
grams and letters, some of the more important of which 
he answered. He did not attend the early forenoon soci- 
ety gathering, but at half-past ten o'clock, with Dr. J. P. 
Robeson, Captain C. E. Henry, President B. A. Hins- 
dale, of Hiram College, and Mr. William Robeson — all 



SmcaS THE CONVENTION. 495 

old friends —he entered the Reunion Hall. There were 
loud cheers as the general assumed his place on the plat- 
form. Prayer was offered by the Rev. J. Knight, of Wil- 
mington, Ohio, and President Hinsdale arose and intro- 
duced General Garfield as chairman, with explanatoiy 
remarks as to why it had been arranged to have the re- 
union. The preparations, Mr. Hinsdale said, were made 
before the nomination of General Garfield, and he had ac- 
cepted an invitation to preside over the reunion meeting 
two months ago. On taking the chair, General Garfield 
was greeted with loud applause. He said : 

" Mr. President and fellow-citizens : I have been so 
many years accustomed to visit you that it would be en- 
tirely unbecoming in me to be the cause of disorder and 
disturbance. I am here, first, because I promised to be 
here, and second, because I greatly desire to be here, and 
I will not interfere with the course of your proposed pro- 
gramme. Certainly not at this time, but will begin im- 
mediately by introducing to you the gentleman who was 
to deliver the regular address of the reunion, the Rev. 
J. M. Atwater, once a student in this place, and still later 
the president of the college, and now a distinguished 
minister." 

The address of Mr. Atwater related to college matters, 
and was well received. At the close. General Garfield 
made a brief speech complimenting the previous addresses 
and referring to the past history of the college. The 
Rev. A. S. Hay den then spoke, after which General Gar- 
field delivered the following address : 

" Ladies and gentlemen : There are two chapters in 
the history of this institution. You have heard the one 



496 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

relating to the founders. They were all pioneers of this 
Western reserve, or nearly all. They were all men of 
knoAvledge and great force of character. Nearly all were 
not men of means, but they planned this little institution. 
In 1850 it was a cornfield, with a solid brick building in 
the centre of it, and thnt was all. Almost all the rest 
has been the work of the institution itself. 

" Without a dollar of endowment, without a powerful 
friend anywhere, but with a corps of teachers who were 
told to go on to the ground and see what they could make 
out of it, to find their own pay out of the little tuition 
that they could receive. They invited students of their 
own spirit to come on the ground and see what they 
could make of it, and the response has been that many 
have come, and the chief part of the respondents I see in 
the faces around and before me to-day. It was a simp?€ 
question of sinking or swimming for themselves. And I 
know that we are all inclined to be a little clannish ovor 
our own. We have, perhaps, a right to be ; but I do not 
know of any place, I do not know of any institution that 
has accomplished more with so little means as has this 
school on Hiram Hill. 

"I know of no place where the doctrine of self-help 
has a fuller development, by necessity as well as finally 
by choice, as here on this hill. The doctrine of self-help 
and of force has the chief place among these men and 
women around here. As I said a great many years ago 
about that, the act of Hiram was to throw its young men 
and women overboard and let them try it for themselves; 
and all those men able to get ashore got ashore, and I 
think we have few cases of drowning anywhere. 



SINCE THE CONVENTION. 497 

" Now, T look over these faces, and I mark the several 
geological changes remarked by Mr. Atwater so well in 
his address ; but in the few cases of change of geological 
fact there is, I find, no fossils. Some are dead and glori- 
fied in our memories, but those who are not are alive — I 
think all. 

" The teachers and the students of this school built it 
up in every sense. They made the cornfield into Hiram 
Campus. Those fine groves you see across the road, they 
planted. I well remember the day when they turned out 
into the woods to find beautiful maples, and brought them 
in; when they raised a little purse to purchase ever- 
gi'een; when each young man, for himself one, and per- 
haps a second for some young lady, if he was in love, 
planted two trees on the campus, and then named them 
after himself. There are several here to-day who remem- 
ber Bolen. Bolen planted there a tree, and Bolen has 
planted a tree that has a lustre — Bolen was shot through 
the heart at Winchester. 

" There are many here that can go and find the tree 
that you have named after yourself. They are great, 
strong trees to-day, and your names, like your trees, are, 
I hope, growing still. 

"^ " I believe outside of or beyond the physical features 
of the place, that there was a stronger pressure of work 
to the square inch in the boilers that run this establish- 
ment than any other that I know of, and, as has been so 
well said, that has told all the while with these young 
men and women. The struggle, wherever the uncouth 
and untutored farmer boys-^a farmer, of cou.se — that 
came here to try themselves and find what kind of pt^plc 

32 



498 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

they were. They came here to go on a voyage of discov- 
ery. Your discovery was yourselves, in many cases. I 
hope the discovery was a fortune, and the friendships 
then formed out of that have bound this group of people 
longer and farther than most any other I have known in 
life. They are scattered all over the United States, in 
every field of activity, and if I had time to name them, 
the sun would go down before I had finished. 

"I believe the rules of this institution limits us to 
time — I think it is said five minutes. I ma}' have over- 
gone it already. We have so many already that we want 
to hear from, we will all volunteer. We expect now to 
wrestle awhile with the work before us. Some of these 
boys remember the time when I had an exercise that I 
remember with pleasure. I called a young lad out in a 
class and said, in two minutes you are to speak to the 
best of your ability on the following subject (naming it), 
and gave the subject and let him wrestle with it. I was 
trying a theory, and I believe that wrestling was a good 
ihing. I will not vary the performance save in this. I 
will call you and restrict you to five minutes, and let you 
select your theme about the old days of Hiram. 

" Now, we have a grave judge in this audience, who 
■wandered away from Hiram into the forty-second regi- 
ment into the South, and, after the victory, stayed there. 
I will call now, not as a volunteer man, but as a drafted 
man, Judge Clark, of Mississippi." 

There were other speeches, and early in the evening 
General Garfield, amid loud cheers, bid adieu to Hiram, 
and drove to his home in Mentor. 

On the morning of the 12th, General Garfield was 



SINCE THE CONVENTION. 499 

given a rousing reception by the citizens of Mentor, at 
the Lake Shore Kailroad depot, where they had erected 
an arch in his honor. Immediately after dinner, Greneral 
Garfield stepped into a carriage, with his near friend and 
neighbor. Dr. J. P. Robinson, and drove toward Paines- 
ville, where another reception by the Lake county people 
was to take place at Ryder's Hotel, a half-way house be- 
tween Painesville and Mentor. A band of music and a 
procession of carriages met him. Mayor J. B. Burroughs, 
of Painesville, brother of Congressman Burroughs, of 
Michigan, and Mr. A. T. Tinker, president of the Paines- 
ville Garfield Club, were in the van. These two gentle- 
men entered the general's carriage amid loud cheers. As 
they passed Lake Erie Seminary, the pupils waved hand- 
kerchiefs and applauded General Garfield. The proces- 
sion increased in size and marched through the principal 
streets of Painesville, finally bringing up at the public 
square, where there was a throng of people. 

Mayor Burroughs introduced General Garfield, who, 
after the applause had subsided, spoke as follows : 

" Fellow Citizens and Neighbors of Lake County : 
I am exceedingly glad to know that you care enough to 
come out on a hot day like this in the midst of your 
busy work to congratulate me. I know it comes from 
the hearts of as noble a people as lives on the earth. 
[Cheers.] In my somewhat long public services there 
never has been a time, in however great difficulties I 
may have been placed, that I could not feel the strength 
that came from resting back upon the people of the 
Nineteenth district. To know that they were behind 
me with their intelligence, their critical judgment, their 



500 JAMES A- GARFIELD. 

confidence and their support was to make me strong in 
everything I undertook that was right. I have always 
felt your sharp, severe, and just criticism, and my worthy, 
noble, supporting friends always did what they believed 
was right. I know you have come here to-day not 
altogether, indeed not nearly, for my sake, but for the 
sake of the relations I am placed in to the larger con- 
stituency of the people of the United States. It is not 
becoming in me to speak nor shall I speak one word 
touching politics. I know you are here to-da:y with- 
out regard to politics.^I know you are all here as 
my neighbors and my friends, and as such I greet you 
and thank you for this candid and gracious welcome, 
[Cheers.] Thus far in my life I have sought to do what 
I could according to my light. More than that I could 
never hope to do. All of that I shall try to do, and if^ 
I can continueyto have the good opinion of my neigh- 
bors of this district, it wiUvbe one of my greatest satis- 
factions. I thank you again, fellow-citizens, >^for this 
cordial and generous welcome." (Applause and cheers.) 

Mr. Tinker delivered a formal speech of reception 
and was followed by Dr. Robinson, Judge Reuben 
Hitchcock, and William Slade. General Garfield then 
shook hands with hundreds of enthusiastic people, and 
at dusk left for his home, where he remained quietly 
over Sunday. 

On Sunday he attended church in the morning, and 
was the centre of attraction for hundreds of country eyes. 
After dinner he endeavored to answer some of the vast 
amount of letters that have accumulated, but no sooner 
had he written a few lines than some callers would in- 



SINCE THE CONVENTION. 501 

teirupt him. Many from the surrounding towns and 
countrj irove to Mentor to look at the general, and at 
least t* shake hands, if not to converse at length, and 
none c« aid be absolutely turned away. The general 
was called on in the evening by friends from far oil 
Cleveland. 

On the morning of the 14th, General Garfield left 
Mentor for Washington City. He arrived at Youngs- 
town early in the forenoon and there took the through 
train on the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Road and arrived 
in Pittsburgh at 8.27 p. m. He telegraphed the Bal- 
timore and Ohio authorities, and they held back the 
through express from 7.55 to 8.35 for him. The pas- 
senger agent of the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie drove him 
to the Baltimore and Ohio depot, where, notwithstand- 
ing his efforts to avoid recognition, a little crowd soon 
congregated. " I will not be interviewed," he said, in 
response to a reporter. Then he received the congratu- 
lations of a long line of admirers and friends, who shook 
his hand as he pjissed on through the car. While he 
was yet returning thanks the train pulled out of the 
depot, his admirers dismounted and the general was 
left to the mercy of the newspaper men who stuck by 
him. He was far more anxious to interview than to be 
interviewed. He fired questions thick and fast. Buried 
in the seclusion of his own home he had not heard the 
report of Tilden s withdrawal, and when informed of the 
report he went into a deep study for an instant. He 
was exceedingly anxious to know how the news of his 
nomination was received in this neighborhood, and when 
informed that the enthusiasm was intense he appeared 



502 JAMflS A. GARnEL©. 

greatly gratified. He stated that he had received a 
grand ovation at Youngstown and other points along the 
line, considering that he had striven to keep his journey 
quiet. When the train reached Hazlewood, on the Bal- 
timore and Ohio Road, within the city limits, a stop was 
made so that tlie general could show himself to the 
Garfield Club of that ward. Three rousing cheers were 
given for the nominee, and the general returned thanks. 
The cheers were renewed as the train pulled out. 

Washington was reached the next day, and during 
the remainder of the session of Congress Gen. Garfield 
devoted himself to his duties as a member of the House. 

On the evening of the 16th of July, a serenade was 
given to General Garfield, at his quarters at the Riggs 
House, by the National Veteran Association. The portico 
of the Riggs House was tastefully draped with flags and 
bunting, and the surrounding streets were brilliantly 
illuminated with calcium lights, while at frequent inter- 
vals rockets and other fireworks were set off from the 
steps of the Treasury Department. As the procession 
filed past cheers were given for Garfield, and as that 
gentleman appeared on the platform, accompanied by ex- 
Secretary Robeson and Attorney-General Devens, they 
were renewed. General Devens made a short speech, 
in which he referred to the great Republican Presidents, 
Lincoln, Grant, and Hayes, and each name was greeted 
with cheers. He then introduced General Garfield as a 
soldier whose shield is unsoiled and whose sword is spot- 
less ; a statesman on whom rests no stain or dishonor ; a 
Christian gentleman, respecting the rights of every man 
because he himself is kind, considerate, and self-respecting 



SmCE THE CONVENTIOil. 503 

always. General Garfield returned thanks for the dem- 
onstration and said : 

" I cannot at this time utter a word on the subject 
of general politics. I would not mar the cordiality of 
this welcome, to which to some extent all are gathered, 
by any reference except to the present moment and 
its significance ; but I wish to say that a large portion 
of this assemblage to-night are my comrades, late of the 
war for the Union. For them I can speak with entire 
propriety, and can say that these very streets heard the 
measured tread of your disciplined feet years ago, when 
the imperilled Republic needed your hands and your 
hearts to save it. And you came back with your num- 
bers decimated, but those you left behind were immortal 
and glorified heroes forever ; and those you brought back 
came carrying, under tattered banners and in bronzed 
hands, the ark of the covenant of your Republic in safety 
out of the bloody baptism of the war [cheers] ; and you 
brought it in safety to be saved forever by your valor 
and the wisdom of your brethren who were at home, and 
by this you were again added to the great civil army of 
the Republic. I greet you, comrades and fellow-soldiers 
and the great body of distinguished citizens who are 
gathered here to-night, who are the strong stay and sup- 
port of the business, of the prosperity, of the peace, of 
the civic ardor and glory of the Republic, and I thank 
you for your welcome to-night. It was said in a wel- 
come to one who came to England to be a part of he.r 
glory — and all the nation spoke when it was said : 

' Normans and Saxons and Danes are we, 
But. all of us Danes in our welcome of thee ;* 



504 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

and we say to-night of all the nation, of all the people, 
soldiers and civilians, there is one name that welds us 
all into one, it is the name of American citizen, under 
the Union and under the glory of the flag that led us to 
victory and to peace. [Applause.] For this magnificent 
welcome, I thank you with all there is in my heart." 

Loud cheers were then given for General Garfield as 
he retired from the platform, and his place was taken by 
other speakers. 

Upon the adjournment of Congress, General Garfield 
returned to his home at Mentor. 

The Fourth of July falling on Sunday, the citizens of 
Lake County celebrated the third in its place, and on 
that day dedicated, at Painesville, their beautiful monu- 
ment to the memory of the soldiers of the district who 
fell in defence of the Union. General Garfield was the 
orator of the day. He said : 

" Fellow-Citizens : I cannot fail to respond on such 
an occasion, in sight of such a monument to such a cause, 
sustained by such men. [Applause and cheers.] While 
I have listened to what my friend has gaid, two questions 
have been sweeping through my heart. One was ' What 
does the monument mean ? ' and the other ^ What will 
tlie monument teach ? ' Let me try and ask you for a 
moment to help me to answer What does the monument 
mean ? Oh, the monument means a world of memories 
and a world of deeds, and a world of tears, and a world of 
glories. You know, thousands know, what it is to offer 
up your life to the country, and that is no small thing, 
as every soldier knows. Let me put the question to you 
for a moment. 



SINCE THE CONVENTION. 505 

y 

" Suppose your country, in the awfully embodied 
form of majestic law, should stand above you and say, * I 
want your life ; come up here on the platform and offer 
it,' — how many would walk up before that majestic pres- 
ence and say, ^ Here I am ; take this life and use it for 
your great needs ? ' [Applause.] And yet almost two 
million of men made that answer [Applause], and a 
monument stands yonder to commemorate their answer. 
That is one of its meanings. But, my friends, let me try 
you a little farther. To give up life is much, for it is 
to give up wife and home and child and ambition. But 
let me test you this way farther. Suppose this awfully 
majestic form should call out to you and say, ' I ask you 
to give up health and drag yourself, not dead, but half 
alive, through a miserable existence for long years, until 
you perish and die in your crippled and helpless con- 
dition. I ask you to volunteer to do that.' It calls for 
a higher reach of patriotism and self-sacrifice, but hun- 
dreds of thousands of you soldiers did that. That is 
what the movement means also. But let me ask you to 
go one step farther. Suppose your country should say, 
' Come here on this platform, and in my name and for 
my sake consent to be idiots. [A voice — " Hear, hear ! "] 
Consent that your very brain and intellect shall be bro- 
ken down into hopeless idiocy for my sake, — how many 
could be found to make that venture 1 And yet thou- 
sands, and that with their eyes wide open to the horrible 
consequences, obeyed that call. 

" And let me tell how 100,000 of our soldiers were 
prisoners of war, and many of them, -when death waa 
stalking near, when famine was climbing up into their 



506 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

hearts, and idiocy was threatening all that was left of 
their intellect, the gates of their prison stood open every 
day if they would quit, desert their flag, and enlist under 
the flag of the enemy; and, out of 180,000, not two 
per cent, ever received the liberation from death, star- 
vation, idiocy, all that might come to them ; but they took 
all these horrors and all these sufl'erings in preference to 
going back upon the flag of their country and the glory 
of its truth. [Applause.] Great God ! was ever such 
measure of patriotism reached by any man on this earth 
before? [Applause.] That is what your monument 
means. By the subtle chemistry that no man knows, 
all the blood that was shed by our brethren, all the 
lives that were devoted, all the grief that was felt, at 
last crystallized itself into granite, rendered immortal 
the great truth for which they died — [applause] — and it 
stands there to-day ; and that is what your monument 
means. 

"Now, what does it teach? What will it teach? 
Why, I remember the story of one of the old conquerors 
of Greece who, when he had travelled in his boyhood over 
the battle-fields where Miltiades had won victories, and 
set up trophies — returning, he said : ^ These trophies of 
Miltiades will never let me sleep.' Why? Something 
had taught him from the chiselled stone a lesson that he 
could never forget. And, fellow-citizens, that silent sen- 
tinel, that crowned granite column, will look down upon 
the boys that will walk these streets for generations tc 
come, and will not let them sleep when the country 
jails them. From the dead lips of the bugler on the 
field will go out a call that the children of Lake County 



SINCE THE CONVENTION. 507 

will hear after the grave has covered us all and our im- 
mediate children. That is the teaching of your monu- 
ment. That is its lesson, and it is the lesson of endur- 
ance for what we believe, and it is the lesson of sacrifices 
for what we think ; the lesson of heroism for what we 
mean to sustain ; and that lesson cannot be lost to a peo- 
ple like this. It is not a lesson of revenge ; it is not a 
lesson of wrath ; it is the grand, sweet, broad lesson of 
the immortality of the truth that we hope will soon 
cover, as with the grand shekinah of light and glory, 
all parts of this Republic from the lakes to the gulf 
[Applause.] 

" I once entered a house in old Massachusetts, where 
over its doors were two crossed swords. One was the 
sword carried by the grandfather of its owner on the 
field of Bunker Hill, and the other was the sword carried 
by the English grandsire of the wife on the same field 
and on the other side of the conflict. Under those 
crossed swords, in the restored harmony of domestic 
peace, lived a happy and contented and free family un- 
der the light of our Republican liberties. [Applause.] I 
trust the time is not far distant when under the crossed 
swords and the locked shields of Americans, North and 
South, our people shall sleep in pe.'ice and rise in liberty, 
love, and harmony under the union of one flag of the 
stars and stripes." (Applause.) 

After a short rest at his home, General Garfield for- 
warded to Senator Hoar, the chairman of the Chicago 
Convention, the following formal letter of acceptance of 
his nomination by that body for the Presidency of the 
United States : 



«508 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

" Mentor, Ohio, July 10, 1880. 
" Dear Sir : — On the evening of the 8th of June last 
I had the honor to receive from you, in presence of the 
committee of which you were chairman, the official an- 
nouncement that the Republican National Convention at 
Chicago had that day nominated me for their candidate 
for President of the United States. I accept the nomi- 
nation with gratitude for the confidence it implies, and 
with a deep sense of the responsibilities it imposes. I 
cordially endorse the principles set forth in the platform 
adopted by the convention ; on nearly all of the subjects 
of which it treats my opinions are on record among the 
published proceedings of Congress. I venture, however, 
to make special mention of some of the principal topics 
which are likely to become subjects of discussion without 
reviewing the controversies which have been settled dur 
ing the last twenty years, and with no purpose or wish to 
revive the passions of the late war. It should be said 
that while Republicans fully recognize and will strenu- 
ously defend all the rights retained by the people and all 
the rights reserved to the States, they reject the per 
nicious doctrine of State supremacy, which so long crip- 
pled the functions of the National Government, and at 
one time brought the Union very near to destruction. 
They insist that the United States is a nation, wuth am- 
ple power of self-preservation ; that its constitution and 
laws made in pursuance thereof are the supreme law of 
the land ; that the right of the nation to determine the 
method by which its own legislation shall be created, 
cannot be surrendered without abdicating one of the fun- 
damental powers of the Government j that the national 



SINCE THE CONVENTION. 509 

laws relating to the election of representatives in Con- 
gress shall neither be violated or evaded ; that every 
elector shall be permitted freely and without intimidation 
to cast his lawful ballot at such election, and have it hon 
estly counted, and that the potency of his vote shall not 
be destroyed by the fraudulent vote of any other person. 
" The best thoughts and energies of our people should 
be directed to those great questions of national well-being 
in which all have common interest. Such efforts will 
soonest restore perfect peace to those who were lately 
in arms against each other, for justice and good-will 
will outlast passion, but it is certain that the wounds 
cannot be completely healed and the spirit of brother- 
hood cannot fully pervade the whole country until every 
citizen, rich or poor, white or black, is secure in the free 
and unqualified enjoyment of every civil and political 
right guaranteed by the constitution and the laws. 
Wherever the enjoyment of this right is not assured, 
discontent will prevail, immigration will cease, and the 
social and industrial forces will continue to be disturbed 
by the migration of laborers and the consequent dimi- 
nution of prosperity. The National Government should 
exercise all its constitutional authority to put an end to 
these evils, for all the people and all the States are mem- 
bers of one body, and no member can suffer without in- 
jury to all. The most serious evils which now afflict the 
South arise from the fact that there is not such freedom 
and toleration of political opinion and action that the 
minority party can exercise an effective and wholesome 
restraint upon the party in power. Without such re- 
\-<traint party rule becomes tyrannical and corrupt. The 



ilO JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

prosperity which is made possible in the South by its 
great advantages of soil and climate, will never be real 
ized until every voter can freely and safely support any 
party he pleases. 

" Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular 
education, without which neither justice nor freedom can 
be permanently maintained. Its interests are entrusted 
to the States, and the involuntary action of the people. 
Whatever help the nation can justly afford should be 
generously given to aid the States in supporting common 
schools, but it would be unjust to our people and danger- 
ous to our institutions to apply any portion of the rev- 
enues of the nation or of the States to the support of 
sectarian schools. The separation of the Church and the 
State in everything relating to taxation should be abso- 
lute. On the subject of national finances my views have 
been so frequently and fully expressed that little is 
needed in the way of additional statement. The public 
debt is now so well secured, and the rate of annual in- 
terest has been so reduced, by refunding that rigid econ- 
omy in expenditures and the faithful application of our 
surplus revenues to the payment of the principal of the 
debt will gradually but certainly free the people from its 
burdens and close with honor the financial chapter of 
the war. At the same time the Government can provide 
for all its ordinary expenditures, and discharge its sacred 
obligations to the soldier of the Union and to the widows 
and orphans of those who fell in its defence. 

" The resumption of specie payments, which the Re- 
publican party so courageously and successfully acccom- 
plished, has removed from the field of controversy many 



SINCE THE CONVENTION. 511 

jaestions tliat long and seriously disturbed the credit of 
the Government and the business of the country. Our 
paper currency is now as national as the flag, and re- 
sumption has not only made it everywhere equal to 
coin, but has brought into use our store of gold and sil- 
ver. The circulating medium is more abundant than 
ever before, and we need only to maintain the equality 
of all our dollars to insure to labor and capital a measure 
of value, from the use of which no one can suffer loss. 
The great prosperity which the country is now enjoy- 
ing should not be endangered by any violent changes or 
doubtful financial experiments. In reference to our 
customs laws a policy should be pursued which will 
bring revenues to the Treasury, and will enable the labor 
and capital employed in our great industries to compete 
fairly in our own markets with the labor and capital of 
foreign producers. We legislate for the people of the 
United States, not for the whole world, and it is our 
glory that the American laborer is more intelligent and 
better paid than his foreign competitor. Our country 
cannot be independent unless its people, with theri* 
abundant natural resources, possess the requisite skill 
at any time to clothe, arm, and equip themselves for war, 
and in time of peace to produce all the necessary im- 
plements of labor. It was the manifest intention of the 
founders of the government to provide for the common 
defence, not by standing armies alone, but by raising 
among the people a greater army of artisans whose in- 
telligence and skill should powerfully contribute to the 
safety and glory of the nation. 

" Fortunately for the interests of commerce there is 



5r2 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

no longer any formidable opposition to appropriations for 
the improvement of our harbors and great navigable 
rivers, provided that the expenditures for that purpose 
are strieth'" limited to works of national importance. The 
Mississippi River, with its great tributaries, is of such vital 
importance to so many millions of people that the safet^ 
of its navigation requires exceptional consideration. In 
order to secure to the nation the control of all its waters, 
President Jefferson negotiated the purchase of a vast ter- 
ritory extending from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific 
Ocean. The wisdom of Congress should be invoked to 
devise some plan by which that great river shall cease to 
be a terror to those who dwell upon its banks, and by 
which its shipping may safely carry the industrial pro- 
ducts of twenty-five millions of people. The interests of 
agriculture, which is the basis of all our material prosper- 
ity, and in which seven-twelfths of our population are en- 
gaged, as well as the interests of manufactures and com- 
merce, demand that the facilities for cheap transportation 
shall be increased by the use of all our great water- 
courses. The material interests of this country, the tra- 
ditions of its settlement and the sentiment of our people 
have led the Government to offer the widest hospitality 
to emigrants who seek our shores for new and happier 
homes, willing to share the burdens as well as the bene- 
fits of our society, and intending that their posterity shall 
become an un distinguishable part of our population. 

" The recent movement of the Chinese to our Pacific 
Coast partakes but little of the qualities of such an emi- 
gration, either in its purposes or its res alt. It is too 
much like an importation to be welcomed without restrio- 



SINCE THE CONVENTION. 513 

lion ; too much like an invasion to be looked upon with- 
out solicitude. We cannot consent to allow any form ol 
servile labor to be introduced among us under the guise 
of immigration. Recognizing the gravity of this subject, 
the present administration, supported by Congress, has 
^ent to China a commission of distinguished citizens foi 
the purpose of securing such a modification of the exist- 
ing treaty as will prevent the evils likely to arise from 
the present situation. It is confidently believed thnt 
these diplomatic negotiations will be succossful without 
the loss of commercial intercourse between the two great 
powers, which promises a great increase of reciprocal 
trade and the enlargement of our markets. Should these 
efforts fail, it will be the duty of Congress to mitigate 
the evils already felt, and prevent their increase by suci: 
restrictions as, without violence or injustice, will plac* 
upon a sure foundation the peace of our communities an' 
the freedom and dignity of labor. 

" The appointment of citizens to the various executive 
and judicial offices of tlie Government is, perhap-^, thi 
most difficult of all duties which the constitution has im 
posed upon the executive. The convention wisely de- 
mands that Congress shall co-operate with the executive 
departments in placing the civil service on a better basis 
Experience has proved that, with our frequent changes o 
administration, no system of reform can be made effectiv< 
nnd permanent without the aid of legislation. Appoint 
ments to the military and naval service are so I'egulatet- 
by law and custom as to leave but little ground of com 
plaint. It may not be wise to make similar regulation,- 
by law for civil service, but without invading the author 

33 



514 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

ity or necessary discretion of the executive, Congress 
should devise a method that will determine the tenure of 
office, and greatly reduce the uncertainty which makes 
that service so uncertain and unsatisfactory. Without 
depriving any officer of his rights^ as a citizen, the Gov- 
ernment should require him to discharge all his official 
duties with intelligence, efficiency, and faithfulness. 

" To select wisely from our vast population those who 
are best fitted for the many offices to be filled requires an 
acquaintance far beyond the range of any one man. The 
executive should therefore seek and receive the informa- 
tion and assistance of those whose knowledge of the com- 
munities in which the duties are to be performed best 
qualifies them to aid in making the wisest choice. The 
doctrines announced by the Chicago Convention are not 
the temporary devices of a party to attract votes and 
carry an election. They are deliberate convictions result- 
ing from a careful study of the spirit of our institutions, 
the events of our history, and the best impulses of our 
people. In my judgment, these principles should control 
the legislation and administration of the Government. In 
any event they will guide my conduct until experience 
points out a better way. If elected, it will be my purpose 
to enforce strict obedience to the constitution and the 
laws, and to promote as best I may the interest and honor 
of the whole country, relying for support upon the wisdom 
of Congress, the intelligence and patriotism of the people, 
and the favor of God. 

" With great respect, I am, very truly yours, 

^ TT r. T.. XT "J. A. Garfield.*' 

« To Hon. George F. Hoar, 

chairman of the Committee." 



SINCE THE CONVENTION. 515 

We have now traced the career of General Grarfield 
from his birth to his formal acceptance of the nomination 
of his party for the Presidency. It is a grand career, 
and builds up a noble and powerful example to the young 
men of his country. Here we must leave him. That he 
will be triumphantly seated in the Presidential chair 
none who have read this narrative can doubt ; and that 
his administration will be pure and grand is a certainty. 

In person General Garfield is six feet high, broad- 
shouldered, and strongly built. He has an unusually 
large head, that seems to be three-fourths forehead, light 
brown hair and beard, large light blue eyes, a prominent 
nose and full cheeks. He dresses plainly, is fond of 
broad-brimmed slouch hats and stout boots, eats heartily, 
cares nothing for luxurious living, is thoroughly temper- 
ate in all respects save in that of brain-work, and is 
devoted to his wife and children, and very fond of his 
country home. Among men he is genial, approachable, 
companionable, and a remarkably entertaining talker. 

General Garfield is the possessor of two homes, and 
his family migrates twice a year. On the corner of Thir- 
teenth and I streets stands his Washington home. It 
is a very modest and unpretentious mansion of brick, 
plain and square built, after the manner of its distin- 
guished owner and occupant. Above it, to the north, 
towers the palatial Franklin school building. On the 
west is that lovely stretch of rolling turf and shade and 
shrubbery known as Franklin Square. The residences in 
the immediate vicinity denote a respectable but by no 
means fashionable neighborhood. The house is square, 
with a wing on the east, comprising dining-room and 



516 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

library. The parlor side-windows look out on the pleas- 
ing prospect of the park, while the front commands a 
corner view of I and Thirteenth streets. 

Above all other places of interest in this house, how- 
ever, is the library. Here is the working-ground of a 
man of energy and ideas ; here the student an(i scholar 
lives and has being in the exclusion of the man ; hero 
the statesman and politician takes nourishment and 
flourishes. The room is about twenty-five by fourteen 
feet, three windows opening south on I street, one to the 
east. The pattern carpet leaves about three feet of 
stained floor about the margin. In the centre and under 
the heavy chandelier is a double walnut office-desk, with 
an addition of pigeon-holes and boxes and drawers on the 
end. There is an air of legal brusqueness everywhere, 
of orderly disorder, as if the owner cared less for general 
symmetry than for immediate convenience. Half a dozen 
bookcases occupy the available space against the walls, 
and two or three thousand books freight their shelves. 
No two of these cases are alike, of the same height, width 
or make. It is as if the accumulation had from time to 
time overflown the limit of book-room and another case 
had been hastily procured in which to store the surplus, 
and then, when that was full, another was added, and so 
on. Books, books, books ! It is the one striking feature 
of Mr. Garfield's home. They confront one in the hall 
upon entering, in the parlor and sitting-room and in the 
(fming-room — yes, and even in the bath-room, where 
docimients and speeches are corded up like firewood. I 
would not be at all surprised if a fair library could be 
discovered in the kitchen. Among all these books there 



SINCE THE CONVENTION. 517 

is not a trashy volume. They are law and history, 
biography, poetry, politics, philosophy, government, and 
standard works of all sorts, the accumulation of years 
of study and the patient research of the scholar. And 
these are but a portion of Mr. Garfield's collection, a con- 
siderable one being at his country home in Ohio. 

Five or six years ago the little cottage at Hiram was 
sold, and for a time the only residence the Garfields had 
in his district was a summer house he built on Little 
Mountain, a bold elevation in Lake County, which com- 
mands a view of thirty miles of rich farming country 
stretched along the shore of Lake Erie. Three years 
ago he bought a farm in Mentor, in the same county, 
lying on both sides of the Lake Shore and Michigan 
Southern Railroad. Here his family spend all the time 
when he is free from his duties at Washington. The 
farm contains about one hundred and twenty acres of 
excellent land, in a high state of cultivation, and the 
Congressman finds a recreation, of which he never tires, 
in directing the field-work and making improvements in 
the buildings, fences, and orchards. Cleveland is only 
twenty-five miles away ; there is a post office and a rail- 
way stiition within half a mile, and the pretty country 
town of Painesville is but five miles distant. One of the 
pleasures of summer life on the Garfield farm is a drive 
of two miles through the woods to the lake shore and 
a bath in the breakers. 

On this farm General Garfield has built him a new 
house, which attracts considerable attention and much 
curiosity from passers by on the Lake Shore Railroad- 
It cannot be called grand in any sense of the word, but 



518 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

it will be a pleasant and very convenient country house, 
superior to the majority along this section of the Ridge 
road. It is generally of the Gothic style of architecture, 
but mingled with other styles, so as to form what con- 
tractors term a " mixture." A roomy porch extends 
along the front and part of the side toward Cleveland. 
Lattice work has been arranged in front for training 
vines. The house is sixty feet front by fifty deep and 
two stories and a half high. The apartments are all 
roomy for a country house, and the wide hallway attracts 
attention the first thing on entering. General Garfield 
has marked that section of the plan where the pantry is 
located, " Plenty of shelves and drawers," and in the 
rear part of the second floor of the diagram is written 
" Snuggery for the general." The last mentioned room 
is rather small, measuring only 13^ feet by 14 feet. It 
is to be fitted up with book-shelves, but Garfield will 
still continue to use as his library the detached building 
erected a year or two since in the yard northeast of the 
house. 

Two of the best apartments in the eastern and 
front part of the edifice are being especially fitted up 
for occupancy by Mrs. Garfield, the mother of tlie gen- 
eral. The front room has a large old-fa.shioned fireplace, 
and the pains taken to make everything comfortable 
nere plainly show the tender feelings of the so-n for the 
aged mother. Dr. Robinsoa noticed the admiration of 
the writer for this room, and said : " The general thinks 
everything of his mother. You know he chopped a 
hundred cords of wood once for $25, and took the money 
homo to her." 



SINCE THE CONVENTION. 5K) 

There are few of the timbers of the old house (over 
which the new hiis been con.structed) now visible, and 
probably there will be none in sight when the carpets are 
put down. The cost of the structure will be, when fin- 
ished, between |3,500 and $4,000. This is remarkably 
slight, when the expense of bringing such workmen as 
were wanted so far away from the city is considered. 
The work has been hurried forward with rapidity, par- 
ticularly within the last few weeks, as it was intended to 
get it as nearly finished as possible before the general's 
return from Washington previous to going to the Chicago 
Convention. Mrs. Garfield was really the architect of 
the house. A man in Cleveland drew a slight sketch, 
and Mrs. Garfield filled it out, the general marking in 
various directions with bold strokes of the pen. When 
the ideas of the wife had been put on paper the general 
wrote the following underneath, as a gentle hint to the 
builders : 

" These plans must stand as above, unless otherwise 
ordered hereafter. If any part of them is impracticable, 
inform me soon and suggest change. 

" J. A. Garfield." 
" Washingtoit, March 0, 1880." 

The general has never been proud or " stuck up," 
the neighbors say, although they thought he might be- 
come so when he first moved among them. His wife 
they characterize as a '• perfect lady," who, however, is 
not afraid of work. 

General Garfield has five children living, and has lost 
two, who died in infancv. Tlie two elder boys, liarry 



520 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

imd James, are now at school in New Hampshire. Mary, 
or Molly, as everybody calls her, is a handsome, rosy- 
cheeked girl of about twelve. The two younger boys are 
named Irwin and Ahram. The general's mother is still 
living, and has long been a member of his family. She is 
i..n intelligent, energetic old lady, with a clear head and ;i 
strong will, who keeps well posted in the news of the daj', 
and is very proud of her son's career, though more hberal 
of criticism than of praise. 

General Garfield's district lies in the extreme north- 
eastern corner of Ohio, and now embraces the counties of 
Ashtabala, Trumbull, Geauga, Lake, and Mahoning. His 
old home county of Portage was detached from it a year 
ago. With the exception of the coal and iron regions in 
the extreme southern part, the district is purel}' a rural 
(ine and is inhabited by a population of pure New Eng- 
land ancestry. It is claimed that there is less illiteracy 
in proportion to the population than in any other district 
it> the United States. 



CHAPTER XII. 

ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 

The Presidential Election — Garfield Elected— Life at Mentor after the Elec- 
tion — Departure fur Washington — The Inauguration — Brilliant Scenes — 
The new Cabinet — Divisions in the Republican Party — Nomination of 
Judge Eubertsou — Resignation of the New York Senators — The Presi- 
dent endorsed by the Senate and People — Promise of a noble Adminis- 
tration — The Star Route Scandal — Illness of Mrs. Garfield— The proposed 
New England Tour — The President Shot — Scenes at the Depot — Removal 
to the White House — Heroic Courage of the President- -A Brave Fight — 
Arrival of Mrs. Garfield — Anxiety of the People — Statements of Eye- 
witnesses — Daily Progress of the President's Case — H<^pe at last — The 
Assas.sin — His Crime an'd its Motive — No Conspiracy — Details of the 
Arrest — Guiteau's Father and Brother denounce hira. 

The Presidential Election of 1880 was held on the 2d 
of November, and the popular vote was as follows : 

For James A. Garfield (Republican) 4,437,345 

For W. S. Ilai.cock (Democrat) 4,43^.,015 

For J. B. Weaver ((ireenback) 305,931 

General Garfield thus obtained a majority of 2,330 
of the vote of the people. The electoral vote was as 
follows : for James A. Garfield, 214 ; for W. S. Han- 
cock, l-^)o; thus giving to General Garfield a majority 
of 59 votes in the Electoral College. These figHres 
indicate unerringly that General Garfield was the 
choice of the majority of his countrymen. General 

521 



522 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

Hancock accepted his defeat manfully, and was among 
the first to lieartily congratulate his successful com- 
petitor. 

On the first Wednesday of December, 1880, the 
Electoral Colleges of the various States met and cast 
their votes, as provided by the Constitution. All the 
returns having been forwarded to the Vice-President 
of the United States, at Washington, the two Houses 
of Congress met in the Hall of the United States 
House of Representatives on the second Wednesday in 
February, 1881, for the purpose of counting the elec- 
toral vote. The certificates of the Electoral Colleges 
of the various States having been opened and read, 
the Vice-President announced that James A. Garfield 
had been duly elected President, and Chester A. -- 
Arthur Vice-President of the United States, for the 
term of four years from the 4th of March, 1881. The 
successful candidates were subsequently officially noti- 
fied of their election. 

After the November election, General Garfield re- 
mained quietly at his home at Mentor, receiving 
thousands of visitors from all shades of the Republican 
party. Once he made a visit to New York for the 
purpose of consulting with the leaders of his party. 
Great curiosity was manifested in all parts of the 
country to learn the names of the statesmen he had 
selected as members of his Cabinet; but the President ^" 
elect maintained a dignified silence, reserving the ^ 
announcement of the names of his constitutional ad- 
visers until after his entrance upon the duties of his 
office. 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 523 

At length, on the 1st of March, General Garfield 
left Mentor for Washington to be inaugurated Presi- 
dent of the United States. The whole route was a 
triumphal progress. At all the principal points lie 
was received by enthusiastic crowds, and at several 
delivered brief but eloquent addresses. Washington 
was reached on the 2d of March, and the President 
elect met with a reception rarely given to persons even 
of his position. 

On Friday, March 4th, the inauguration ceremonies 
took place upon a scale of unusual magnificence. Thou- 
sands of strangers crowded the city. Military and 
civic organizations had been arriving for days pre- 
viously, and on the morning of the 4tli of March, it 
was believed that at least 50,000 strangers were in 
the city, 

Friday dawned bleak and stormy. Big flakes of 
snow went scattering through the chilling air. All 
the roofs and trees shed trickling streams of ice 
water. But between ten and eleven o'clock, although 
the high wind continued, the sun began to show it- 
self through the clouds. All Washington was astir at 
an early hour, and men, women, and children hurried 
through the snow and slush from every direction, 
every one intent on reaching Pennsylvania avenue to 
witness the inaugural procession, or to the Capitol. 
About ten o'clock the escort of Federal troops was 
formed in front of the White House, and at half-past 
ten the procession started down Pennsylvania avenue 
for the Capitol. The in-coming and out-going Presi- 
dents rode in a four-horse barouche, with the gor- 



524 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

geously uniformed First Cleveland troop mounted im- 
mediately in front. 

The procession presented the most imposing spec- 
tacle witnessed in Washington since the grand review 
of troops seventeen years ago, when the victorious 
armies of the Republic returned North at the close 
ef the war. At the head were two platoons of 
mounted police, and the grand marshal, General W. 
T. Sherman, and aids. The procession was divided 
into five divisions, which numbered fully 15,000 men. 
The first division, under command of Mnjor-General 
R. B. A^-res, United States Army, consisted of twelve 
companies of regular artillery, four companies of ma- 
rines, a battalion of Cleveland troops, cavalry; Presi- 
dent and party in carriages ; Philadelphia troops, 
cavalry; Knights Templars, four platoons; Grand 
Army of the Republic, eight platoons ; Boys in Blue, 
eight platoons; Naval Cadets; two horse batteries of 
regulars; battalion Washington light infantry, four 
companies; Colonel Moore, Company A, fifth battalion; 
Second California brigade; Hampton Cadets, Virginia; 
Langston Guards, Norfolk, Va. ; Union Blues, Thomas- 
ville, Ga. ; Rome Star Guards, Ga. ; National Rifles 
(Washington), Captain Burnside; Signal Corps, United 
States Army; and the Ninth Regiment, of New York, 

The second division, commanded by Major-General 
John F. Hartranft, was composed of five brigades of j, 

Pennsylvania militia. 

The third division, commanded by Major-General 
Thomas C. Fletcher, consisted of the Grand Army of 
the Republic, Boys in Blue, and militia from New 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 625 

York, District of Colunibi<a, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, 
Delaware, Ohio, Michigan, Wiseonsin, Indiana, Illinois, 
Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, New Hampshire, 
Connecticut, Massachusetts, and veterans from the Dis- 
trict of Columbia and Pittsburg. The Governor of 
Connecticut and staff were in this division. 

The fourth division, under the command of Mnjor- 
General Charles II. Field, was composed of militia from 
Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, South Carolina, 
Tennessee, and Florida. 

The fifth division, under the command of Colonel 
Robert Boyd, was composed exclusively of civic 
societies. 

Along the route of the procession, from stands 
erected at intervals, thousands upon thousands of 
people gazed upon the passing pageant. The streets 
through which it moved were lined with people. 
Pennsylvania Avenue presented a grand sight. Every 
window had its occupants, and every house was bright 
with the joyous costumes of fair women and beautiful 
children, who waved handkerchiefs, the national colors, 
and white hands, as the man, who is to preside over 
the destinies of the nation for the next four years, 
passed by. All available space was occupied. Even 
the roofs of many houses, which had been covered 
with benches, chairs, etc., were thronged with people. 
The long eastern portico of the Treasury building 
was filled with ladies and gentlemen, and a stand 
erected at the south end of the building was occupied 
by at least 3,000 clerks of the department. In the 
two squares between Thirteenth and Fourteenth 



526 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

streets were two stands occupied by the employ^ of 
the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, and of the 
Interior Departments, the former numbering about 600, 
and the latter over 2,500. 

There were arches at the intersection of the cross 
streets with Pennsylvania Avenue, and on Fifteenth 
street, between the Treasury Department and the 
Corcoran building, was a great triumphal arch, which 
presented a beautiful appearance. It was Gothic in 
design, and one end was surmounted by a tower 
with four minarets, from which floated red and blue 
pennants. On the other end was a flag-staif, with a 
blue-and -white banner wavins: therefrom, and four 
lines of small flags, extending from the topmost point 
of the pole to the arch below. The entire structure 
was painted to imitate brown stone, and the columns 
and ornaments Nova Scotia stone. Thirty-eight 
windows in the arch and towers were painted in imi- 
tation of stained glass. In the centre of each was a 
red, white and blue shield, on which was the name 
of a State. Eight similar windows were marked with 
the names of the eight Territories. Across the top 
of the arch were two rows of cavalry and infantry 
guidons. 

The Senate reassembled at ten o'clock. The floor 
was covered with chairs before, between and behind 
the rows of desks. At half-past ten Mrs. Hayes, Mrs. 
Garfield, and young Mrs. Garfield, accompanied by 
junior members of the Ha3''es and Garfield families, 
entered the south gallery. Mrs. Hayes and Mrs. Gar- 
field carried bouquets. At the same time the doors 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 527 

of fill the galleries theretofore closed were opened, 
and the galleries were quickly filled with the ftimilies 
of Congressmen, heads of departments, diplomats, and 
officers of the army and navy. All the ladies wore 
handsome toilets. The sce,ne was a brilliant one. 

A few minutes before eleven. General Hancock, 
accompanied by General Mitchell, entered with Senator 
Blaine. As he walked across the Senate the galleries 
burst into loud applause. Senator Conkling was the 
first to greet him. They shook hands warmly. Senator 
Tliurman grasped his hand next. The whole Senate 
followed suit. After he had shaken hands with all, 
he was conducted to a seat on the left amid renewed 
applause. 

Then came successively Chief-Justice Carter and 
the rest of the Supreme Court of the District ; Judges 
Hunt, Bancroft, Davis and others of the Court of 
Claims ; Secretary of State Evarts ; Governor Bigelow 
of Connecticut; ex-Attorney-General Williams, Gen- 
eral Phil Sheridan, and others. At twenty minutes 
to eleven the Senate received the House resolution 
asking for the appointment of a Senator on the com- 
mittee to wait, with members appointed on the part 
of the House, on the President and tell him that 
Congress had finished its business and was ready to 
adjourn. 

At eleven o'clock the President and President-elect, 
each accomp-^nied by a member of the Committee of 
Arrangements, arrived and proceeded to the President's 
room. Vice-President-elect Arthur, accompanied by a 
member of the Committee of Arrangements, proceeded 



528 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

to the Vice-President's room. The Diplomatic Corps 
assembled in the marble room and entered the 
Senate Chamber in a body at fifteen minutes past 
eleven. All were in full court dress. The Japanese 
and Chinese legations attracted much attention. The 
corps was headed by its dean, Sir Edward Thornton, 
and Secretary Evarts. At half- past eleven Chief- 
Justice Waite and the Justices of the Supreme Court, 
accompanied by ex-Justices Strong and Swayne, and 
preceded by their clerk, appeared in the Senate and 
took the seats provided for them. 

The Presidential procession, ♦headed by President 
Hayes and President-elect Garfield, finally entered, 
under escort of Senators Pendleton, Anthony, Bayard, 
and others, of the Committee of Arrangements, and 
two minutes later was followed by Vice-President- 
elect Arthur, in charge of a committee composed of 
the above-named Senators, all present in the cham- 
ber rising upon each occasion. Mr. Wheeler intro- 
duced the Vice-President-elect, who addressed to the 
Senate a few well-chosen words, and then turned to 
Mr. Wheeler and raised his right hand. The out- 
going Vice-President administered the oath of office 
to his successor, and immediately afterwards bade fare- 
well to the Senate in a brief address. The new Senate 
was then organized ; after which the Senate, House, 
and guests proceeded to the east front of the capitol. 
The scene presented at the platform was impressive 
in the extreme. The crush of spectators filled the 
large platform, which was about one hundred yards 
wide, and extending out on each side past the two 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 529 

wings of the building. The crowd was so closely 
wedged together that the scene from above presented 
a solid mass. Directly in front of the platform were 
spectators who had stood patiently there in the cold 
and wet for four hours. Behind were massed the 
military. The cold northeast wind had softened, and 
the sombre sky had given way to the bright sunlight. 
The change was auspicious. 

In the first row of a temporary platform sat four 
Ohio men — Chief-Justice Waite, in his gorgeous gown 
of silk ; James A. Garfield, full-bearded, big-eyed 
and with folded arms; Rutherford B. Hayes, looking 
wearied; and old Senator Pendleton. Behind them sat 
Mrs. Hayes, her jet-felack hair silvered here and there 
with white. She wore a round, white, fluffy sort of 
turban, with flowing feathers, and a seal-skin sacque 
or ulster, and a black silk dress. Next her sat Aunt 
Eliza, as Mr. Garfield calls his mother, a very aged 
lady with snow-white hair. She seems feeble, and 
her skin is furrowed and full of wrinkles. She wore 
a black silk bonnet and a black silk robe of some kind. 
She looked warm and comfortable, and her eyes rested 
fondly on her son, and her cheeks flushed perceptibly 
when later on his manly utterances were cheered to 
the echo. The wife of the President-elect sat next 
his mother, and beyond her stood their children, Vice- 
President Arthur, Speaker Randall, General Swaim, 
and others. Back of them were Secretary Evarts — - 
large hat and slender figure — the round Derby hat and 
tall person of Roscoe Conkling, the Supreme Court 
Judges, the Senators and Representatives. 

34 



530 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

General Garfield read his inaugural slowh- and 
effectively, and was frequently applauded. When he 
had concluded, he turned to Chief-Justice Waite and 
said, " I am now prepared to take the oath." 

The Chief-Justice was attended by Mr. McKinney, 
Clerk of the Supreme Court, carrying a Bible (Snb- 
bath-school edition). Rising, he tendered the book to 
the President-elect, and adn^inistered the customary 
o<ith. General Garfield kissed the page, bowed to the 
Chief-Justice, and then reverently kissed his mother 
and his wife, after which he received the congratula- 
tions of his friends. 

The ceremony being over, the President and Mr. 
Hayes were escorted to the barouches, and the grand pro- 
cession down the avenue to the White House began to 
move. Upon his arrival there, President Garfield took 
a seat upon the grand stand, in company vvitli Mr. 
Hayes, and the procession passed in review before 
him. Two hours later, the President and his family 
entered the White House. 

Immediately after his inauguration President Gar- 
fijld sent to the Senate, which had been convoked in 
K xtra session by President Hayes, the names of the 
nicinbers of his Cabinet. They were promptly con- 
firmed. They were as follows : 

Secretary of State, James G. Blaine, of Maine. 
Secretary of the Treasury, William Wiiidotn, of Minnesota. 
Secretary of War, Robert T. Lincoln, of lUitiois. 
Secretary of the Navy, \V. IL Hnnt, of Louisiana. 
Secretary of the Interior, S. .J. Kirkwood, of Iowa. 
Attorney-General, Wayne MacVeagli, of Peimsylvania. 
Postmaster-General, Thomas L. Jame-^, of New York. 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 531 

Very soon after entering upon his duties, President 
Tfarfield found that the executive chair was by no 
means a bed of roses. The Republican party soon di- 
vided into two sections, one supporting the President, 
and the other, known as the " Stalwarts," opposing 
hiin. A bitter partisan contest set in, and prolonged 
the executive session of the Senate to a very late day. 
The quarrel was fiercest over the appointment of a 
new Collector for the port of New York, and culmi- 
nated in the resignation of Senators Conkling and 
Piatt, of that State. The resignation was based upon 
the ground that the President had nominated the 
Collector for the port of New York without consulting 
or yielding to the wishes of the Senators from that 
State, the said Senators in effect claiming the right to 
dictate what appointments should or should not be 
made in that State. The President, however, having 
with him the support of the great mass of the nation, 
without regard to party, pursued with unshaken firm- 
ness the course he had determined upon. After the 
resignation of Senators Conkling and Piatt, the nomi- 
nation of Mr. Robertson was confirmed by the Senate, 
the highest legislative body in the Union thus uniting 
with the majority of the citizens of the country in 
approving the course of the President. 

As the time wore on, President Garfield gained 
steadily in the esteem of the people. His purpose 
to give to the country a fiiir and just administration 
of the Government became every day more apparent, 
and his high and noble qualities became each day more 
conspicuous. People began to feel for the first time in 



532 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

many years that tlie Executive Chair was occupied by 
a man capable of conceiving a pure and noble standard 
of duty, and possessed of the firmness and strength of 
will necessary to carrying it out. The country was 
prosperous, and there was every reason to expect a 
continuance of the general happiness. 

Soon after the opening of President Garfield's admin- 
istration, the Postmaster-General discovered that cer- 
tain contracts for carrying the mails on what are known 
as " the Star Routes " were fraudulent, and the persons 
interested in them were robbing the government of 
immense sums of money. The President, Postmaster- 
General, and Attorney-General, sustained by the other 
members of the Cabinet, resolved to bring the crim- 
inals to justice. The latter, being men of wealth and 
position, bitterly resented the course of the government, 
and violently denounced it. Nevertlieless the President 
firmly pursued what he deemed his duty, and the crim- 
inals were only prevented from being brought to speedy 
trial and conviction by the close of the term of the 
court. 

During the late sprin* and early summer the Pres- 
ident suffered a severe affliction in the serious illness 
of his wife from malarial fever, which came near result- 
ing fatally. The White House is situated in the most 
unhealthy section of Washington City, and its inmates 
are every summer forced to retreat to a purer atmos- 
phere. As soon as Mrs. Garfield was able to be moved, 
she was taken to Long Branch, where she speedily re- 
covered. 

On the morning of the 2d of July, the President, 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 533 

with a considerable party, including several members 
of the Cabinet and lao||Bs, started on a visit to New 
England. During the trip the President intended to 
be present at the commencement exercises of his alma 
mater, Williams College, in Massachusetts. The party 
arrived at the Baltimore and Potomac depot in Wash- 
ington in advance of the President, who reached the 
depot shortly after with Mr. Blaine, the Secretary of 
State, who came simply to see him off and say good- 
bye. In passing througli the waiting-room at the sta- 
tion the President was fired at twice, and fell terribly 
wounded. The correspondent of the Philadelphia Times 
thus describes the tragedy : 

About twenty minutes after nine o'clock this morn- 
ing the people on Pennsylvania avenue were startled 
by the sight of a team of powerful horses driven at 
full speed toward the White House. The first impres- 
sion was that it was a runaway, but as the team swept 
by, the fact that it was a War Department covered 
wagon and the driver, of grim and soldierly bearing, 
sat urging his horses to a still higher speed, was a puz- 
zle to everybody. Tlie avenue was thronged with ve- 
hicles, and the soldier driver thundering along on the 
dead run waved tliem aside, while the people on the 
walks closed rapidly in behind with muttered comment 
and looks of astonishment. The impression prevailed 
that the driver was drunk, but those who saw the 
man's grim look knew that he was on some great pur- 
pose. 

"You are wrong," said my companion to one of 



534 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

these cursing commentators. " Something great has 
happened or is going to happeS" 

The words were scarcely out of his mouth before the 
President's empty carriage, with the driver on the box, 
came bowling along at the same break-neck pace, the 
driver urging his animals with the whip. The bewil- 
dered crowd, who had just rushed into the street to 
strain their eyes and shake their fists after the rapidly- 
vanishing wagon, now scattered pell-mell right and left 
to give way to this second apparition. While the pop- 
ulace gathered at the curb and vehicles stood stationary 
on the safe side, still another carriage, containing an 
attache of the White House, whirled by at a rapid 
pace, preceded by a mounted policeman at full gallop. 
Then everybody knew something had happened, and 
that this something was to the President of the United 
States or some one of the Presidential party. It was 
generally known that they were to leave the city by the 
morning train, and but a few minutes before the exec- 
utive carriage and others containing the members of the 
party had passed down the avenue. 

Little time elapsed in which to indulge in specula- 
tion. It could not have been more than five minutes 
when the intelligence spread that President Garfield 
had been assassinated. No one could trace the source 
of this rumor. It came in subdued whispers. It seemed 
to come from everywhere and spread with the morn- 
ing breeze. Proprietors and clerks rushed from their 
stores and offices, and men, women and children quickly 
gathered on the walks and thronged the corners in ex- 
cited groups. Then the President's carriage came tear- 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 535 

ing down the asplialtum again toward the depot. In 
it sat Colonel Corbin of^tlie War Department and Sur- 
geon-General Barnes. This confirmed the stoi'ies on 
the street. Then Dr. Bliss' carriage went by, and bv 
this time everybody knew the President of the United 
States, for the second time in the history of the country, 
had been assassinated. This was within ten minutes 
of the occurrence. 

The excitement was intense. There were no loud 
voices, but everybody ran hither and thither without 
method. Men forgot hat and coat, and ran into 
streets and wandered about, apparently anxious only 
to be near somebody else, but shocked and bewildered 
with the startling rumors beyond concerted action. 
About this time a disorderly character was run in at 
the Tenth district station house, and evidently under 
the impression that this might be the assassin of the 
President, a half-frantic mob rushed in from all sides, 
then fell rapidly away again, disappointed. As soon 
as the public had fairly recovered its senses, there was 
a general move for the scene of the tragedy, the Balti- 
more and Potomac depot. 

The shooting occurred at 9.20, in the Baltimore and 
Potomac depot. The assassin was Charles Guiteau. 
The story is full of exciting interest. 

Mr. Garfield arose this morning at about half-past 
seven, and took his breakfast at eight with his oldest 
son. At about nine Mr. Blaine called, and a few 
minutes after the President's carriage was announced. 
The President and Secretary Blaine took seats in the 
carriage, and were driven down the avenue. It was 



536 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

about the first time that the President's new horses 
and carriage had been out. They were driven by 
Smith, the colored man who has for twelve years been 
the White House coachman. There was no footman 
on the box, but the equipage was very showy, and 
attracted general admiration. At about a quarter past 
nine the carriage arrived at the Baltimore and Potomac 
station. It had been arranged that the President and 
several members of his official household should leave 
on the limited express at half-past nine. The Presi- 
dent's party was to go first to Long Branch, and thence 
throufrl) New Eni2;hand. 

When the President and Mr. Bhiine arrived at the 
station, they were told that they had ten minutes be- 
fore the train would go, and so the two friends sat in 
the carriage and conversed togetiier for about five 
minutes. Warned by an attending policeman that 
little time was left, they got out of the carriage and 
entered the ladies' room of the station, and arm-in- 
arm walked into the main room through which they 
had to pass to get to the train. Mr. Garfield expressed 
his regret that Mr. Blaine was not going with him, 
and the later replied that they would soon meet in 
Au<i;usta. 

There was not a large crowd at the station. Per- 
il aps half a hundred had gone to the station from 
instinct of curiosity, for it was known the President 
and certain members of the Cabinet would leave on 
the limited express. A few newspaper reporters were 
on hand, and a score or more of personal friends, who, 
like Mr. Blaine, had come to bid the President and 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 537 

his party good-bye. Secretary Windom, Postmaster- 
General James and -Secretary Hunt had arrived before 
the President. They were accompanied by their wives 
and other members of their families. Colonel Rock- 
well, who acts as a sort of personal aide to the Presi- 
dent, was also in advance of his chief, accompanied 
by his son, Don Rockwell, and by the President's son 
Harry. 

The President and Mr. Blaine had traversed half of 
the main hall of the station, when Guiteau walked out 
deliberately with a cocked revolver. He gave no 
warning, and said not a word, but presenting his pistel 
fired at the President's heart. Whether on account of 
defective aim, or because the President was in motion, 
is not known, but the shot, instead of going into the 
President's heart, went into the upper part of his arm, 
making a harmless wound. The assassin, with the 
same devilish deliberation, next tried to shoot the 
President in the stomach, but the first shot caused the 
President to turn slightly, and the second fire, only an 
instant after the first, struck him in the side or back, 
near the back-bone. At this the President fell heavily. 
Mr. Blaine, almost paralyzed by the sudden event, 
hesitated a moment between succoring his friend and 
^^ecuring the assassin. He called loudly for help, and 
the assassin was secured. 

The horrible occurrence caused the crowd to fall 
back at first in terror, but the waiting-woman of the 
station at once went to the stricken man's assistance. 
Few realized what had occurred. Two shots had 
been heard, but no unusual noise had preceded or 



538 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

followed the event. But the sad news spread rap- 
idly. 

The President lay helpless on the floor, the hlood 
flowing from both his wounds most co[>iously. Some 
minutes elapsed before those present regained their 
senses. Nobody seemed to know what to do. Mr. 
Windom, Mr. James, and Mr. Hunt came in and viewed 
the prostrate figure. Mr. Windom shed tears and could 
not control his emotion. Mr. James was more prac- 
tical. He and Mr. Bhiine soon secured a mattress, and 
not long afterwards the wounded President was taken 
up-stairs and placed upon a bed. 

The scene at the bedside was most affecting. The 
President lay upon his back, his wounds bleeding pro- 
fusely. His coat, vest and trousers had been cut away, 
and the half-dozen surgeons, who by this time had 
arrived, pronounced the injury of the most serious 
character. The sudden shock hao affected the Presi- 
dent's stomach, and he vomited quite freely. He did 
not, however, lose consciousness. About his bed were 
gathered his Cabinet, and some of his best friends. 
He said nothing, but he recognized every one with his 
eye. At one time he put his arm around Blaine, and 
said : " You know how I love you, Blaine." 

The President's grief-stricken son, Harry, stood by 
the side of the bed, holding his father's hand, and 
crying as though his heart would break, and calling 
aloud : " My poor father ! my poor father ! " There 
were few present who did not weep. 

Before long the surgeons decided that the President 
could be removed to his home. An array ambulance 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 539 

was at hand, and four stalwart figures bore the bleed- 
ing President from the station and placed him in the 
covered vehicle. Two or three trusted friends attended 
him in the ambulance, and five thousand sympathiz- 
ing friends — men, women, children of all ages, black 
and white — followed the ambulance on the run until 
it reached the White House. The wagon was driven 
to the south entrance, and as the President was lifted 
out he recoirnized Mr. Crook, his financial clerk, and 
Mr. Pruden, his private secretary, in an upper window, 
and, smiUng, saluted them with his uninjured arm. 
He was taken to his wife's chamber, overlooking the 
Potomac, and disrobed. He complained of fatigue and 
was allowed to rest. Two attempts were made to find 
the ball — one at the station and one at the White 
House — but without result. 

George W. Adams, one of the proprietors of the 
Ecenliuj Star, of Washington, was at the depot when 
the shooting occurred. He says that the President had 
just alighted from his carriage to take the cars for the 
North. Secretary Hunt and Mrs. Hunt, Secretary 
Windom and Mrs. Windom, Postmaster-General James 
and the rest of the party had taken their seats in the 
car ; Colonel Jamieson, of the Post-Office Department, 
who was to hiive charge of the transportation of the 
party, was standing at the gate leading to the cars. 
He heard a shot, quickly followed by another. There 
was a rush to the ladies' room, from whence the sounds 
came. President Garfield was found lying on the 
floor, having fiiUen to the left. Secretary Blaine came 
out of the room, following a man and calling : " Rock- 



540 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

well! where is Rockwell?" The man was seized by 
officers Kearney and Parks, the depot policemen. The 
President was taken up-stairs. Dr. Bliss arrived soon 
afterwards. It was soon discovered that both shots had 
taken effect. One struck him in the right arm, below 
the shoulder; the other went in at the right side of 
the back, between the hip and kidney. It then passed 
forward and went down into the groin. It was probed 
for, but could not .be found. The shooting occurred 
when the President and Secretary Blaine were walking 
arm-in-arm through the ladies' room. Secretary Blaine 
was not going with the party, but came down to bid 
the President good-bye. He said: "The President 
and I were walking arm-in-arm towards the train ; I 
heard two shots, and saw a man run ; I started after 
him, but saw that he was grabbed. As he got out of 
the room I came to the President, and found him 
lying on the floor. The floor was covered with the 
President's blood. A number of people who were 
around shortly afterwards had some of that blood on 
their persons. I think I know the man ; I think his 
name is Guiteau. When arrested he said : ' I did it, 
and want to be arrested ; I am a Stalwart, and Arthur 
is President now ; I have a letter here that I want 
you to give to General Sherman ; it will explain every- 
thing ; take me to the police station.' " 

When Guiteau had fired his second shot and made 
for the B-street entrance of the depot, where hack 195 
waited, he found his plan of escape wouldn't work. 
Depot Policeman Parks sprang between him and the 
exit, and the assassin then turned the other way. 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 541 

Here he was confronted by Officer Kearney, and both 
officers seized him at once. As they dragged him 
through the crowd he tlourished a sealed letter in 
one hand and shouted in a highly dramatic manner : 
"Arthur is President of the United States now. I am 
a Stalwart. This letter will tell you everything. I 
want you to take it to General Sherman." 

He was deprived of his pistol on arrest. It is an 
ugly-looking weapon, of what is known as the five-bar- 
relled British bull-dog pattern, of 44 calibre, with a 
white bone handle, and had three loads undischarged. 
He did not throw it away, but flourished it in his hand 
when he ran, everybody about the waiting-room dodg- 
ing from in front of it without regard to appearances. 

When the wounded President reached the Executive 
Mansion he was taken to his chamber and made as 
comfortable as possible. Immense crowds surrounded 
the grounds, but- were not allowed inside. The fol- 
lowing physicians were called in: Doctors Bliss, Ford, 
Huntingdon, Woodward, U. S. A., Townsend, Lincoln, 
Reyburn, Norris, Purvis, Patterson, Surgeon- General 
Barnes and Surgeon -General Wales. The President 
was conscious and did not complain of suffering. He 
dictated the following telegram to his wife : 

Mrs. Garfield, Elberon, Long Branch : 

The President wishes uie to say to you from him that he has been seriously 
hurt. How seriously he cannot yet say. He is himself and hopes you will 
come to him soon. He sends his love to you. A. F. ROCKWELL. 

Meanwhile there was the greatest anxiety as to the 
President's conditiop throughout the city. Immediately 
after the shooting his pulse went down to 53, and his 



542 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

face, as he was moved to the White House, was of an 
ashen hue. His pulse recovered to G3 and the color 
returned somewhat to his face when taken to his room. 
Several attempts were made to probe for the balls dur- 
ing the early part of the afternoon, but they were un- 
successful. 

As the afternoon wore on the President's symptoms 
grew worse, and it was telegraphed all over the world 
that there was but very sh"ght ground for hope. The 
President conversed freely with those about him, and 
was very anxious for the arrival of his wife. She left 
Long Branch shortly before one o'clock on a special 
train placed at her disposal by the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road. The distance is about 200 miles, and she reached 
\yashington in less than six hours. From Gray's Ferry 
to Bay View, a distance of 96 miles, the train traveled 
iu 100 minutes. What a journey that was to one sor- 
rowing, grief-stricken woman ! She was accompanied 
by a special agent of the railroad and members of lier 
own family. From Long Branch to Philadelpliia the 
distance was made witli but a single stop. She was 
shown no despatches at Philadelphia. Members of the 
party, with trembling hands, received a despatch sa} ing 
the President's condition was encourairinG;, vet what 
hope could be given her where all was uncertainty 
even to the President's ph^'sicians? Mrs. Garfield 
arrived at about half-past six. The President wa.^ 
tcmversing with Secretarv Hurit and others around 
liis bedside, and his quickened ear caught tlie sound 
of the carriage wheels below. " That is she," he said, 
turning his face with a irlad suiile toward his v«atehers. 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 543 

imd SO it was. Attorney-General MacVeagh assisted 
Mrs. Garfield to alight and conducted her up-stairs to 
lier husband. She was weeping. Her eyes were red 
and swollen, but she bore herself with much fortitude. 
" She's a plucky little woman," said the President, when 
he was questioned as to the propriety of lier being shown 
to his bedside, and so she proved herself. She took off 
her things as she went up, and going to the bedside 
spoke cheerfully and hopefully of his recovery. Dr. 
Bliss had said : " You have one chance of recovery." 
"I embrace that chance," replied the President. 

A large crowd assembled outside the grounds early 
in the day, and throngs of excited and anxious people 
paraded up and down all the afternoon, catching greed- 
ily at every rumor that came from within the gates. 
The crowd was greatly augmented at night, and the 
anxiety increased with each report of his condition. 
Up in the White House offices assembled a large body 
of special correspondents, some about the doors of the 
private secretary, in whispering groups near the great 
windows, and writing out their notes at various official 
desks. Reports of the situation came out every min- 
ute or two, and were greatly conflicting. The most 
hopeful took thei^- cue from Dr. Bliss, who appeared to 
he the most sanguine of those in attendance. He 
thought the President improving. A number of prom- 
inent Washington ladies and the ladies of various high 
official households sat in the ante-rooms below stairs 
waiting to hear various bulletins as they came from 
the wounded President's chamber. Of all these people 
watching and waiting, not one was as cheerful and self- 



544 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

possessed as the wounded President. He bore his suf- 
fering without a murmur, had a word and a smile for 
every man who entered and a joke for the ladies. Mrs. 
Garfield -sat at his bedside, " as lively as a cricket," as 
Mr. Blaine put it. In the library was a remarkable 
group. Around the colored-globed lamp on the round 
table sat Mr. Blaine, dictating despatches. On the op- 
posite side was the Postmaster-General, who, with Rob- 
ert Lincoln, enjoyed their cigar while waiting for returns 
from the sick-room. Secretary Windom could be seen 
through the open folding-doors, pacing slowly and medi- 
tatively up and down the corridor. Attorney-General 
MacVeagh, the smallest figure in the group, stood look- 
ing on with hands folded behind his back. There was 
Mrs. Hunt on a sofa on one side, talking in whispers to 
Mrs. James, while on the opposite side, over against the 
wall, sat the Secretary of the Navy alone with his cigar. 
Young Harry Garfield stood looking into the lamp with- 
out a word. It was a group for an artist ; and all the 
while all eyes sought the open door of the wounded 
President's chamber. All remained until a late hour, 
and retired with a more hopeful feeling. 

At seven o'clock Secretary Blaine telegraphed to Vice- 
President Arthur, in New York, that the President had 
recognized his wife and had conversed with her, but 
most of his physicians thought he was sinking rapidly. 
At 7.40 there was a change. The President's voice was 
strong, and he talked freely with those around him. 
This was regarded as a change for the better, and the 
bulletin when posted caused intense satisfaction, for the 
sympathies of the people were wholly with the wounded 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 545 

President. At 8.30, however, came the news that " the 
President is again sinking, and there is little if any 
hope;" and the hopes of the people fell. 

There was another gleam of hope a few minutes 
later. It was announced that the President was sleep- 
ing pleasantly and was more comfortable. Pulse, 128 ; 
temperature, 99.1, slightly above normal; respiration, 
22 and more regular. 

At 9.20 the President, it was given out, had rallied 
a little within the past three-quarters of an hour, and 
his symptoms were a little more favorable. He contin- 
ued brave and cheerful. About the time he began to 
rally, he said to Dr. Bliss : 

" Doctor, what are the indications ?'" 
Dr. Bliss replied : " There is a chance of recovery." 
" Well, then," replied the President cheerfully, " we 
will take that chance." 

At 10.20 the President's symptoms _ continued to 
grow more favorable, and to afford more ground for 
hope. His temperature was then normal; his pulse 
had fallen four beats since the last official bulletin, and 
the absence of blood in the discharges from the bladder 
showed that that organ was not injured, as had been 

feared. 

Mrs. Garfield, although still weak from her recent 
illness, and shocked by the suddenness of the grief 
which has come to her, has behaved since her arrival 
with a courage and self-control equal to those of her 
husband. Not only has she not given way to the 
terror and grief which she nec^sarily feels, bmt she 
has been constantly by the President's side, eacour- 



9S 



546 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

aging him with her presence and sympathy, and giving 
efficient aid, so far as it has been in her power, to the 
attending physicians. Shortly after ten o'clock Secre- 
tary Blaine cabled the foreign Ministers that at that 
hour the President's condition had improved. In the 
judgment of all the attending physicians the change 
was marked and hopeful. 

So passed the first night after the shooting. 

Writing the next evening, the same correspondent 

says : 

" This waiting crowd before the White House gates 
is representative of all the people one meets on the 
streets. Men ask each other for the news. Strangers, 
who have never seen each other before, stop and talk 
about the crime and its probable consequences. There 
is not so much noise as in other cities. There is not 
so much blustering about making onslaughts and fur- 
nishing twenty thousand men to sack Washington; 
but there is a deeper feeling, a feeling more akin to 
horror, than the Federal capital has experienced since 
the assassination of Mr. Lincoln. The President him- 
self is full of splendid courage. His nerve is remark- 
abk, and has done much to sustain him. His grasp is 
as strong as ever. His eyes are bright, and he talks 
to those about him cheerfully. Sometimes he con- 
trives to joke with the doctors, but he realizes very 
clearly the straits that he is in. Pie said to Secretary 
Blaine to-day: 'I know well enough there is now some 
hope, but I want you to tell me frankly when there is 
no hope. I can stand it. Tell me frankly, for I may 
not be able to trust my own judgment.' Last evening 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 547 

he had given up hope, but he was cheerful, neverthe- 
less, even when he told his boy that he probably 
should not live. There is no thought of giving up so 
long as the end can be fought off, and the phj^sicians 
have a remarkably strong hope in the grit and deter- 
mination of their patient. They have telegraphed to 
Drs. Frank H. Hamilton, of New York, and D. Playes 
Agnew, of Philadelphia, to join them in their consul- 
tations." 

At this hour, ten o'clock p. M., there are many vis- 
itors at the White House — members of the Cabinet, 
Vice-President Arthur, General Sherman, several Sen- 
ators, high officials of the government, and intimate 
friends of the President and family. They are sitting 
in the room of Private Secretary Brown, and in the 
Cabinet room. Most of the rooms of the President's 
suite are not open. There is every effort to have 
quiet throughout the Executive Mansion. Although 
there is not nearly so much bustle and excitement as 
last night, yet there is a good deal of going and coming. 
Whether there is reason for it or not, there is an in- 
creasing feeling of apprehension. Members of the 
Cabinet are less cheerful than they were during the 
day. Secretary Blaine looks much broken. He is 
grief-stricken, and weighed down with dread of the 
worst. Vice-President Arthur was visibly agitated 
when he entered the White House to-night. He was in- 
formed by Secretary Blaine that Mrs. Garfield was desir- 
ous of seeing him. He was received by her with marked 
consideration. His expressions of heartfelt sorrow were 
aflfecting and impressive in the extreme. At a late 



548 JAMES A. GAEiFlELD. 

hour to-night there are large crowds upon the streets. 
About a thousand people are in front of the White 
House grounds. There are many more people out 
than at this hour last night. There is much less 
cheerfulness, and an increasing fear of fatal results. 
This is caused chiefly from the fact that the President 
d®es not improve rapidly, but is remaining in much 
the same condition as some time ago. 

The 4th of July dawned gloomily at the White 
House. It was a night of suspense and agony there 
which preceded the dawning of the nation's anniver- 
sary. It seemed as though the shadow of death had 
settled there, and that death itself might come before 
morning. As the sun went down on the peaceful 
Sunday evening, there was hope that the President's 
favorable symptoms might become certain symptoms 
for recovery; but suddenly — almost as suddenly as 
the shot which pierced him — there was a change, and 
it was an unfavorable one. The pulse was accelerated 
by a fever which would have burned his life away if 
not reduced. Those ominous prickly sensations in the 
feet and legs, characterized by the President himself 
as " tiger clawing," showed that the nerves were pro- 
testing at some great injury done to one of the largest 
of them, or to their centre, the spinal cord. It was a 
grave, critical time. The silent physicians, as they 
bent over the bedside testing the pulse, the respira- 
tion, and the temperature of the blood, knew that just 
now medical skill was of no avail. Eestoration from 
relapse was to be the work of nature alone. 

The President, his mental faculties undisturbed by 



I 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 549 

the great shock, by the terrible track of a bullet and 
its irritating presence in .his vital organs, with a calm- 
ness that was heroic, expressed his own opinion of his 
coming fate. That was the first time he had confessed 
death since he had remarked at the depot that the 
wound was fatal. Nature did what was hoped it would 
do, though for three hours or more nature struggled 
terribly with death. At length death was vanquished; 
but for how long ? Would there be another struggle, 
when nature, taxed beyond the power of resistance, 
would succumb? The physicians, as they silently 
moved from the sick-chamber to the adjoining dark- 
ened room where sat the Cabinet, strangely mute, ex- 
pressed this idea to them. It was needless for the 
Cabinet to inquire. They glanced up with imploring 
look, and their glance asked the question more eagerly 
than words could ever do. Not more painful than the 
pale face of the President was the sorrow-stricken look 
of these men who but a day or two ago were gathered 
with the President around the Cabinet table. 

Secretary Blaine had aged in a night and a day from 
a man in his prime to a tottering, feeble old man. 
The quick step, the active, springy movement which 
used to characterize the Secretary of State, was gone, 
and when he came from the chamber it seemed as 
though he must have support or he would fall. He 
waited only for the arrival of General Arthur, who 
had been sent for, intending after having seen the 
Vice-President, to retire. Exhausted nature was warn- 
ing him, and so his physician told him, that the strain 
must be relaxed, or the consequences might be severe 



550 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

to him. There was the Postmaster-General, who had 
not even removed his clothing, sitting by one of the 
windows, silent as one in the presence of death. 
There was the venerable Secretary of the Interior, 
pacing slowly back and forth, now in the light of the 
moon, as it streamed in the open window, and now in 
the darkness of the shadows. There was the Attorney- 
General, seemingly the most calm and self-possessed of 
all, conversing in whispers with the Secretary of the 
Treasury at infrequent intervals. The Secretary of 
War, now passing through a second experience of this 
kind, stepped in for a moment, asking a single ques- 
tion, and then retiring with silent tread. 

Thus were the Cabinet in that outer room, waiting 
for any announcement. They hoped, but they feared. 
It was as still as death. The breeze that came up from 
the Potomac rustled the window draperies, but that 
was all the noise there was. At intervals of a few 
minutes some one appears from the sick-chamber. 
Sometimes a simple shake of the head would indicate 
no change — at least, no change for the better. Some- 
times the question would be asked : " How is he now, 
doctor ? " and the reply would be : " No change," or, 
''About the same." This meant that his pulse was 
rmming still at 120 or thereabouts. 

Vice-President Arthur came a little before ten. 
The first person to meet him as he entered the room 
where the Cabinet was, was the Secretary of State. 
The Vice-President took the proffered hand in both of 
his, and said : 

'^Howis the President?" 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GAKFIELD. 551 

" No better, I fear," replied the Secretary, '• and I 
am very glad you have come." 

The Vice-President conversed for a few moments. 
He then requested to see Mrs. Garfield, and when he 
took her hand the Vice-President was weeping. He 
clasped both her hands in his, and, almost overcome 
with emotion, expressed in beautiful sentiments his 
sympathy for her. 

There were no dry eyes in the room at this meeting. 
"It was," said the Postmaster-General, "one of the 
most touching and affecting sights." The interview 
was brief, Mrs. Garfield inquiring after the health of 
the Vice-President, and expressing her own firm con- 
viction that in the providence of God her husband 
would be spared. After that General Arthur con- 
versed with the Cabinet for a while, and then withdrew. 
Only the briefest conversation passed respecting any 
oflicial act. Secretary Blaine said that it was the 
opinion of the Cabinet that in case of the death of 
the President, at whatever hour, General Arthur 
ought to take the oath. General Arthur replied : 
" I shall be ready to fulfil the obligations imposed 
upon me by the Constitution if they should unhap- 
pily arise, and await the advice and notification of 
the Cabinet." 

The hours of evening waned, and there was no ini- 
provement in the condition of the President; every 
symptom was watched, every movement observed. 
Constant records of the pulse were taken. At one 
o'clock the physicians discovered symptoms of tympa- 
nitis, or bloating of the abdomen — a symptom dreaded 



552 JAMES A. GARKIELD. 

but expected — a symptom which is the advanced sign 
of coming peritonitis, and peritonitis precedes either 
mortification or erysipehis, which are advance agents 
of death. The only hope was that the symptoms 
might disappear. SHght as this hope was it was 
made the most of by Secretary Hunt, who expressed 
the opinion that if the President kept alive until ten 
o'clock to-day he would recover. But Colonel Inger- 
soll, with tears streaming down his cheeks, took the 
hand of Secretary Blaine, saying : 

" My dear Blaine, his death is only a matter of 
time." 

"God help the country!" quick as a flash said the 
Secretary, in his familiar, nervous and impressive man- 
ner, looking at IngersoU. 

" Oh, no ; you must not think it is so bad as that." 

The Secretary of State then went away, being al- 
most driven from the house by the physicians, who 
warned him that he must take needed rest. 

Mrs. Blaine remained at the bedside of the President 
much of the time. She sat with her hand in his, and 
the President would catch short naps. 

The President at times seemed desirous of talking, 
but he was not permitted to do so. Mrs. Blaine her- 
self cautioned him against speaking. She told him 
that rest was necessary, and Dr. Bliss reminded him 
that he must not waste his strength even by convers- 
ing. At two o'clock the physicians said that whatever 
happened the President would not die before morning. 
Then the wearied members of the Cabinet went to their 
homes to sleep the sleep of exhaustion. They left word 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 553 

to be called, however, in case of the immediate prospect 
of death. The White House was now deserted, except 
by those who were to remain through the night. 

Dr. Agnew arrived from Philadelphia in an early 
train, and reached the Executive Mansion about five 
this morning. He spent the time from that hour until 
the arrival of Dr. Hamilton, of New York, who reached 
here at seven, in familiarizing himself with the prog- 
ress of the case as shown by the official bulletins. Upon 
the arrival of Dr. Hamilton, at about seven o'clock, an 
examination and consultation by all the attending phys- 
icians was at once commenced. It was immediately after 
this consultation that the first bulletin of the morning 
was issued. It was as follows : 

Washington, July 4 — 8.15 A. m. 
The condition of the President is not materially dif- 
ferent from that reported in the last bulletin (12.10 A. 
M.) He has dozed at intervals during the night, and 
at times has continued to complain of the pain in his 
feet. The tympanitis reported has not sensibly increased. 
Pulse, 108 ; temperature, 99.4 ; respiration, 19. 
D. W. Bliss, J. K. Barnes, 

J. J. Woodward, Robert Reyburn, 

F. H. Hamilton, N. Y. D. H. Agnew, Phila. 

We held a consultation with the physicians in charge 
of the President's case at seven A. M., and approve in 
every particular of the management and of the course 
of treatment which has been pursued. 

Frank H. Hamilton, of New York, 
D. Hayes Agnew, of Philadelphia. 



554 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

Official bulletins were issued several times each day 
during tlie President's prostration. 

The 5th of July, though it showed some improve- 
ment in the President, was still a day of deep anxiety 
throughout the country. Throughout the White House 
during the day there was a solemn and oppressive quiet. 
The reports of the physicians, while they excited no 
new alarm, yet were not such as to remove the dread- 
ful overshadowing anxiety and uncertainty. It was a 
day of watching and waiting. The busiest persons were 
the telegraph messengers, who have been kept running 
night and day delivering and receiving messages. The 
number of private telegrams received and forwarded 
to-day is almost beyond precedent in Washington. The 
anxiety throughout the country appears to be increas- 
ing. Persons who have arrived here from various cit- 
ies and sections express their surprise that everything 
is so comparatively quiet in Washington. Others are 
further surprised that there is so little disposition here 
to hold the Stalwarts indirectly responsible for Gui- 
teau's terrible crime. They can scarcely believe that 
nearly all the officers and clerks are at their desks to- 
day, and that the government business, with the excep- 
tion of that requiring the attention of Cabinet officers, 
is going on as usual. Several members of the Cabinet 
went to their offices this morning to attend to important 
matters which could not be delayed, but they did not 
remain long. Overcome by anxiety and fatigue, they 
found themselves in great need of rest. Secretary Win- 
doni was compelled to go home and seek rest. When 
the departments closed at four o'clock the streets be- 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 555 

came full of people, who gathered about the latest bul- 
letins and eagerly read the announcement that the con* 
dition of the President throughout the day had not been 
unfavorable. The last ofhcial bulletin of last night had 
been unfavorable. The news of a change in the Pres- 
ident's condition had not been issued officially, so that 
the people here did not know of it. When, therefore, 
they read this morning's announcement it was a glad 
surprise. Very few were at the gates to-day, for it was 
not a holiday, but when the sun went down — the hot- 
test sun that Washington has seen this summer — the 
old crowd gathered together a^ain and strained their 
anxious eyes toward the White House. 

Inside the house it has been a quiet day. The Cab- 
inet officers, certain that there was no immediate dan- 
ger, went to their offices and houses. The ladies re- 
mained and rendered what services were required. The 
President resumed his cheerfulness and his pleasant talk, 
until he was told by General Swain that he must cease 
talking, or h6 would shut the door to every one, when 
the President sighed, and said he supposed he must 
obey. "•! am very anxious to live, indeed," said the 
President, " and if necessary, I would let them cut my 
limb off inch by inch. Still, if I have to die, I'm ready 
to go." Every once in a while Private Secretary Brown 
enters the room, and the President is always glad to have 
him at his bedside. Besides Mr. Brown and the nurses, 
Mrs. Garfield is the only person allowed in the sick- 
room, except occasionally any of the Cabinet ladies. 
The President always welcomes his wife with a smile, 
and she speaks to him encouragingly. Said a Cabinet 



556 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

officer : " She is like a rod of iron, and she is as all 
ffood wives would be on such an occasion." So far, 
seven o'clock, it has been the brightest day Washington 
has had since the shooting. 

There is more and more doubt of the conspiracy 
theory. None of the Cabinet officers approve it, and 
the President himself does not believe in it. When 
Mrs. Garfield read to him a suggestion in a newspaper 
to the effect that there was a conspiracy, he said : " No, 
no ; there has been no conspiracy. This is the deed 
of an individual." . 

The events of the 6th of July are thus summed up 
by the correspondent of the New York Times : 

" The weary vigil at the Executive Mansion was con- 
tinued last night ; but those engaged in watching the 
brave patient were inspired by hope, and this made 
their mournful task lighter than it has been heretofore. 
Drs. Bliss and Woodward took turns in watching at 
the bedside of the wounded President, and Mrs. Blaine 
remained with him until about midnight, ministering 
to his wants as only a tender and sympathetic woman 
can. As no unfavorable change had appeared at twelve 
o'clock, Mrs. Blaine left the White House to seek the 
rest which she so much needed. She left full of hope, 
and confident that the President's life would be saved. 
Mrs. Dr. Edson, of this city, a most estimable lady 
and competent nurse, relieved Mrs. Blaine, and re- 
mained in the sick-room until this morning. The 
night was very warm, the thermometer at one o'clock 
this morning registering 84°. A very slight breeze 
was blowing, but it came from the north, and did not 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 557 

penetrate to the President's room. He was constantly 
fanned by those in attendance on him, however, and 
if he suffered any inconvenience from the heat, he 
made no complaints, and certainly no evil effects fol- 
lowed. At 10.30, as the President had displayed signs 
of restlessness, one-quarter of a grain of morphine was 
administered hypodermically, and after that he slept 
very well for a man in his condition, and rested com- 
fortably throughout the night. His naps lasted from 
ten to twenty minutes, broken by waking seasons of 
about the same duration until daylight. During his 
waking hours be was cheerful and inclined to talk, 
but his attendants insisted on his obejdng the order of 
the physicians, and talking was not encouraged. Upon 
waking from one of his naps, he turned to Mr. Crump, 
a steward of the White House, who has been a constant 
attendant upon him since his illness, and said, smiling: 
' It's too bad we couldn't hold a Cabinet meeting to- 
day.' Yesterday was the regular day for the meeting 
of the Cabinet, and the fact that it had been missed 
seemed to weigh upon the mind of the President. The 
thought was a momentary one, however, and he soon 
turned over and dozed off again. 

" Mrs. Garfield passed the night in bed. She is 
anxious to be with her husband all the time, but her 
own health is very precarious, and the doctors insist 
that she shall take her regular rest at night. She is 
the only one of the President's family who has been 
allowed to enter the sick-room since Sunday. The 
doctors refuse to allow anybody to see the President 
except those who are required to attend upon him. 



558 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

To this rule, Mrs. Garfield is the only exception. 
She arose soon after sunrise to-day, and has been in 
and out of the President's room all day. She remains 
only a few minutes at each visit, and does not talk to 
her husband, except to ask the stereotyped question : 
' How do you feel now, dear ? ' to which the President 
responds. Perfect quiet is the great medicine for Gen- 
eral Garfield, and both he and Mrs. Garfield recognize 
the authority of the surgeons, and obey their orders. 
The President is a good patient, and very little trouble 
is given by him. He seems to recognize that many of 
the chances of his recovery depend upon his own 
obedience to orders, and although he is strongly in- 
clined to talk at all times, when he is awake, and 
especially when Mrs. Garfield is with him, he stops 
himself like an obedient schoolboy the moment the 
warning finger of Dr. Bliss is raised. He is bearing 
himself with great fortitude, and Mrs. Garfield has 
exhibited a coolness and courage in this crisis for which 
her oldest and most intimate friends had scarcely given 
her credit. 

" During the night the President partook of small 
quantities of chicken soup at intervals, and it remained 
in his stomach without difficulty. His pulse and his 
temperature continued gradually to lower, and every 
symptom was of a nature to gratify the surgeons and 
add to the hope which they had felt since the first 
favorable change took place on Monday night. At 
about eight o'clock this morning people began to gather 
in front of the gate to the grounds of the Executive 
Mansion in anticipation of the bulletin which was 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 559 

promised for 8.30. The crowd, however, was not nearly 
so large as it has been for the last four days, and the 
faces of the men showed that they ^vere full of hope. 
The bulletin, when it came, was calculated to add to 
the hopes of the people. The President, it said, had 
passed a most comfortable night, and slept w^ell ; his 
pulse had been reduced from 108 at nine o'clock last 
night to 98, a fall during the night of 10. This was 
encouraging, but the temperature of the President was 
still more so. It registered 98 A° — within three-tenths 
of a degree of being normal. His respiration was 
recorded at 23. Upon the receipt of this inspir- 
ing intelligence the crowd dispersed with beaming 
faces. The news was spread throughout the city, and 
men worked better at their various vocations for the 
knowledge of the President's steady improvement. 
The Cabinet officers began to arrive at the White 
House, and all were overjoyed at the glad tidings. 
Postmaster-General James was one of the first to arrive. 
He grasped the hand of Private Secretary Brown, and 
with the one exclamation, 'Thank God!' passed into 
the Cabinet room. Secretaries Blaine, Hunt, Lincoln, 
Windom, Kirkwood, and Attorney-General McVeagh, 
with the ladies of the Cabinet, were early at the 
Executive Mansion, and all went away to their several 
departments with faces wreathed in hopeful smiles. 
Among the other visitors were President Hinsdale, of 
Hiram College, General Sherman, Adjutant-General 
Drum, Judge Field, Judge Harlan, and G. W. Phillips, 
an old friend of the President. None were allowed to 
get nearer to the sick-chamber than the Cabinet-room, 



560 JAMES A. GAUFIELD. 

but all received such solid foundations for hope, that 
they left the White House with feelings of gratitude 
and joy. 

" During the day the President has rested uncom- 
monly well, and his symptoms have continued to be 
of the most favorable character. He has slept a great 
deal, and his naps have been natural and refreshing. 
After awakening from one of them, he said to Colonel 
Rockwell, who was sitting by the bed fanning him : 
' I have a great many dreams, but they are all such 
stuff as dreams are made of He rested quietly for 
a few minutes, and then suddenly inquired of Colonel 
Rockwell : ' Have you heard any news from Williams 
yet?' This is Commencement Day at Williams Col- 
lege, and it was while starting on his journey to be 
present at the exercises that the President was shot. 
' Oh, yes,' said Colonel Rockwell, * we have news from 
there.' The President looked at him for an instant 
with his large, sympathetic eyes, and then said, inter- 
rogatively, 'Tenderness?' The question struck the 
colonel as so laconic, that he imitated its brevity and 
answered in one word, ' Immeasurable.' The President 
smiled as though greatly pleased, turned over, and 
dozed off again almost instantly. 

" One of the most hopeful features of the case is 
the fact that the wounded man still retains strength 
enough to move himself. At about one o'clock this 
morning he exclaimed : ' Oh, I am very weak ! ' and 
asked Colonel Rockwell and General Swaim to raise 
his feet and place them on a pillow, that he might 
rest more easily. Very tenderly the two men raised 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 561 

his right foot, but they had scarcely deposited it on 
the pillow when his left foot dropped by its side. 
He had raised it himself and placed it in the desired 
position. The two gentlemen looked at him with 
astonishment for a moment, and then Colonel Rock- 
well began to laugh. ' Oh, yes ; you're very weak/ 
he exclaimed. The President smiled, but said nothing;. 
He is undoubtedly very weak for a man of his ph3^'5ique^ 
but, compared to most men in his position, he is re- 
markably strong. During the morning he was given 
for nourishment chicken broth, made more nutritious 
by the addition of raw egg albumen. This did not 
satisfy his cravings, and about noon he said that he 
was hungry, and wanted a beefsteak. A mouthful of 
sirloin steak was broiled and given to him. He mas- 
ticated it and swallowed all the juice. He was about 
to swallow the fibre, but the thought struck him that 
this might not be advisable, and he said to Dr. Bliss: 
'Doctor, shall I swallow it?' 'Do as you please,' was 
the answer. He hesitated for a moment, and then 
said : * I guess I had better not/ and ejected the 
fibre." 

The same correspondent thus describes the events 
of the 7th of July: 

" The President passed a very quiet night, sleeping 
a great part of the time, and his sleep was refreshing. 
His longest sleep was one hour, between eleven and 
twelve, but throughout the night he caught snatches 
of sleep lasting from ten to twenty minutes, and very 
seldom remained awake more than ten minutes at a 
time. The artificial coolness produced by the blankets 

86 



562 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

absorbing tbe ice-water did much to conduce to his 
comfort, and fans were used throughout the night to 
keep him cool. Mrs. Dr. Edson watched with him 
until midnight, and after that he was left wholly in 
(the hands of his male attendants. Colonel Rockwell, 
•General Swaim, and Mr. Crump, the steward of the 
White House. The ladies of the Cabinet left early 
iin the evening, there being no necessity for their 
further attendance. During his waking hours in the 
night he occasionally took nourishment in the form 
•of chicken broth, with the white of raw eggs. He 
:retained this in his stomach without difficulty. Drs. 
Bliss and Reyburn remained in the White House 
during the night, and occasionally visited the patient, 
but their professional services were not required ex- 
cept as watchers. His pulse and temperature were 
■increased slightly during the night, but this was ex- 
pected by the physicians, and gave them no uneasi- 
ness. The period of the surgical fever has not yet 
ipassed, and the variations in the pulse and tempera- 
iture were natural and anticipated. 

" The quiet humor of the President has been as 
.manifest since the shooting as it was when he was 
perfectly healthy. Since he has been confined to his 
ibed he has been allowed liberal quantities of cracked 
lice, and ice-water in limited amounts has been given 
to him whenever he asked for it. At five o'clock this 
,m«rning, after awaking from one of his short naps, 
he was given two ounces of chicken broth. After he 
had eaten it Mr. Crump took the bowl away, and, 
seating himself by the bed, began to fan General Gar- 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 563 

field vigorously. The President at this time was 
thirsting for water, and after looking at Mr. Crump 
quizzically for a few moments, he said: 'Crump, after 
the chicken broth, what comes ? The steward made 
no answer, apparently forgetting for the moment that 
the President was accustomed to drink after eating. 
After a brief silence General Garfield said, interroga- 
tively, ' Medicine water?' Crump took the hint and 
gave him a sip of water, and after drinking it the 
President gratified the steward by clapping his hands 
in applause. The President slept about two-thirds of 
the night, and his sleep seemed to do him good. 

" At seven o'clock Dr. S. A. Boynton, who attended 
Mrs. Garfield during her recent illness, arrived, and 
was allowed to see the President. General Garfield 
shook hands with him. Giving him a firm grasp, he 
said to the doctor: 'What news do you bring me?' 
Dr. Boynton answered : * I bring you only good news.' 
* What do you think of my chances?' asked the Presi- 
dent, in a calm and very low voice. ' I think your 
chances are good ; I think that you will pull through,' 
answered Dr. Boynton. ' Well, I think I shall, too,' 
said the President. At this point Dr. Woodward 
stepped to the bedside and forbade General Garfield 
to talk any more. 'Mr. President,' he said, 'you are 
feeling very much refreshed now after the sleep that 
you have had, but if you keep on talking you will 
injure yourself, and may undo all the work that we 
iiave done.' He then explained to the President that 
in talking he moved the diaphragm, and this moved 
the liver, and was liable to injure his prospects of 



564 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

recovery. ^ But I move the diapbragm,' said the 
President, 'every time that I breathe.' The doctor 
explained again that in breathing the movement of 
the diaphragm was very gentle, while in talking it 
was violent. The President then promised that he 
would talk no more except by permission of his doc- 
tors, and he has kept his word since." 

At nine o'clock in the morning the first official bul- 
letin was issued. It was of a very favorable nature, 
recording the pulse of the President at 94, his tempera- 
ture at 99 1-10°, and his respiration at 23. The noon 
bulletin showed that the pulse of the patient had risen 
6 beats, being recorded at 100, and his temperature 
had also risen, being registered at 100 8-10°. His con- 
dition, however, was still favorable, and these slight 
changes in pulse and temperature were not looked upon 
by the physicians with any alarm. At noon he asked 
for some toast, but the surgeons thought it best to give 
him oat-meal gruel, and of this he partook frequently 
during the afternoon. Yellowishness of the skin de- 
veloped yesterday. This is one of the symptoms of a 
wounded liver, but it has not increased during the day, 
and the doctors are not in the least alarmed by it. At 
three o'clock a patent hospital bed arrived at the Execu- 
tive Mansion from Boston. Dr. Bliss refused to allow 
the President to be placed upon it. When his bed was 
changed yesterday he was carried in a linen sheet to 
the new couch. The work was done very carefully, 
but the motion and the excitement increased his pul- 
sation, and Dr. Bliss says he will not risk moving 
him again until he is better. The head of the bed 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 565 

upon which he is resting now is above the window-sill 
of his room, so that he can see the trees in the grounds 
of the White House, the Printing Bureau, and the 
Washington Monument, while the Potomac forms a 
beautiful background to the picture. During the after- 
noon a despatch was received from S. M. Shoemaker, 
of Baltimore, offering to lend a thoroughbred Alderney 
cow to the President, so that he might have pure milk 
during his illness. The offer was accepted on behalf 
of General Garfield by Private Secretary Brown, and 
the cow will arrive here to-morrow. She will be pas- 
tured in the grounds of the Executive Mansion. 

At 4.30 a thunder cloud broke over the cit}^ and for 
half an hour the wind blew at a terrific rate of speed, 
the lightning flashed, the thunder rolled, and the rain 
poured down in torrents. The storm aroused the 
President, and during its continuance he was very un- 
easy. " Oh, how it lightens ! " he exclaimed, and when- 
ever a flash occurred his eyes twitched nervously, and 
he turned his head from the window. The storm lasted 
about half an hour, and it ]eft Washington cooler than 
it has been for several days. The excitement resulted 
in raising the President's pulse somewhat, but the cool 
atmosphere which has followed the storm will be greatly 
to his benefit. As soon as the storm wa? over l*e 
dropped into a gentle sleep. To-morrow Jenning's re- 
frigerating apparatus will be introduced to the room of 
the President. 

The bulletin issued at nine o'clock to-night reports 
General Garfield's condition as still favorable. The 
surgical fever has not yet left him, however, and his 



566 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

pulse, when the bulletin was written, stood at 106 ; his 
temperature at 100 2-10°, and his respiration at 23. 

A sentry paces slowly across the sidewalk in front of 
the main carriage entrance to the White House grounds. 
He is in full uniform and he carries an unsheathed 
sabre against his shoulder. The bright, polished steel 
gleams in the sunshine, and the glint from the blade 
striking on the eye adds an annoyance to the many 
which the sojourners in this overheated city have been 
doomed to endure for several days past. Beads of per- 
spiration roll down the face and neck of the soldier, for 
his position during most of the day is a very exposed 
one, and the fiery sunlight has there full sway.. The 
soldier has comrades within the gates. Peering through 
the iron railings, you can see them lounging on the 
grass under the shade of trees and near the passage- 
way on the east side. Muskets or rifles with bayonets 
attached are stacked in soldierly fashion in little piles 
here and there. There are two companies of regular 
troops, the members of which relieve one another in 
mounting guard. Their vigil never ceases. Day and 
night are one to them. Their drill is the same as 
though they were pickets and an enemy lay a short 
distance away. And so it is about the jail on the out- 
skirts of the city, where lies the assassin Guiteau. It 
was General Sherman who took upon himself the respon- 
sibility of mounting guard in this wise. After he had 
made his disposition of the troops and saw them in 
position, he is said to have turned around to a by- 
stander — an old friend of his — and to have said grimly, 
but with a look of great satisfaction : " Now this is 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 567 

peace. Those men don't represent war; they represent 
peace." He subsequently explained to Major Brock, 
the Superintendent of Police, that he had placed the 
troops as stated simply to save the police from doing 
the extra work they would otherwise have been called 
upon to perform. Major Brock was satisfied, but he 
still places a policeman or two on the grounds, and he 
himself calls occasionally to see that everything goes 
smoothly. For a time, and while the absurd story of 
conspiracy was afloat, he used to call quite frequently, 
but his visits have latterly been at much longer inter- 
vals. It is a policeman, however, who opens the only 
gate which now affords passage to the White House. 
He is just inside the iron doors. In front of him, and 
on the outside, paces the first sentry. The latter's 
duty is ornamental, save in one respect — he is th-e 
representative of authority. He has never been called 
upon to do what policemen have to do when processions 
or shows pass through the streets — to prevent the 
populace from crowding into a space they are not en- 
titled to enter. No one presses against the soldier. 
No matter what the eagerness or the anxiety has been 
to get the latest or earliest news of the President's 
condition, or how large the assemblage has been, the 
people have kept their distance obediently. There 
has been no jostling, no confusion. An instinctive de- 
corum governs. Whenever a bulletin is prepared one 
copy is pasted to a tree just a little to the left of the 
gate and a trifle outside of the railing surrounding the 
grounds. Many persons simply look at these bulletins 
and pass on, but others, and they have been at times 



66S JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

very numerous, wait at tlieir posts and watch eagerly 
for other information. Men who know some of the 
doctors ask of these and share whatever informa- 
tion is obtained with others less fortunately situated. 
Others in their eagerness have heretofere accosted 
every one who came out of the White House. Since 
what was deemed the crisis has been passed these mani- 
festations of anxiety have been much less noticeable. 
Still, the number of persons who do make inquiry and 
the personal anxiety they display are noteworthy inci- 
dents in the history of this remarkable time. 

A carriage dashes up through the asphalted street 
and to the portals. In it is a Cabinet Minister or 
some one holding near relations to the Presidential 
household. There is no need for the crowd to open 
ranks. The passageway is clear. The policeman and 
the sentry look simply at the driver of the vehicle. 
He is recognized, the gates open, and the carriage 
bowls along over the sandy and watered road leading 
in a semi-circle to the steps of the White House porch. 
Those who come on foot enter at the same gates and 
cross the sandy track to the pavement, also leading to 
the front of the mansion. At first the carriages used 
to be driven up to the steps of the mansion and under 
the covered porchway, but of late they have stopped 
short of that place, perhaps because there is there a 
piece of hard asphaltum on which the horses' hoofs 
strike with a sharp clatter. Just within the porch is 
^he vestibule, who>«e floorinc: of tiles returns the sound 
of footfall with a sharp emphasis. The vestibule is a 
kind of lounging-place for newspaper men. Here it 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD 569 

is that many of them intercept ingoing and outcoming 
persons, doctors, Cabinet members, distinguished visi- 
tors, and the like. To the left, in the direction of the 
East Room, is the staircase leading to the upper floor. 
Two officers of the household are here in attendance 
from early morning till late at night. With them is 
to be seen often a colored servitor, tall and erect, with 
an honest, intensely black and generally happy-looking 
face. His features were saddened when men first bore 
the wounded body of his master up the steps of the 
mansion. But a day or two later, when the doctors 
began to give out some good news, his face began to 
shine with joy as he told those about him that "he 
felt as if he could fly." And if his flying could have 
helped the President, there is no doubt that he would 
have made the attempt, even though he had no better 
place to start from than the unfinished top of the ugly 
shaft of the Washington Monument, which looms 
up like a huge whitewashed chimney back of the 
mansion. 

It takes one card to gain admission thus far. The 
visitor must have another to proceed further unless he 
is a Cabinet officer, one of the doctors, or a person em- 
ployed about the household. To the left is the famous 
East room where the Presidential receptions are held. 
That room was closed on Sunday. Since then, how- 
ever, it has been opened to assist in promoting a free 
circulation of the air, which is certainly a necessity, 
inasmuch as the thermometer has within the past forty- 
eight hours closely approached 100° in its markings. 
The thermometer is an official one, and hangs suspended 



570 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

from a nail in the sash of one of the front windows. 
Close to it is a huge ice-water reservoir, which requires 
frequent replenishing. Ice-water, even of the peculiar 
whitish tint which all water here has, is indeed greatly 
in demand. The first anteroom up the stairs has 
another reservoir, and a pitcher of the same chilling 
beverage is to be found in the room of the President's 
private secretary, which is the Mecca or ultima thule 
of nearly all even of the favored visitors. 

Up two flights of heavily carpeted stairs, which carry 
one up only one story, and then around a landing, and 
the visitor finds himself in a dark antechamber. Here 
one or two of the household servants are to be seen. 
They probably have some function, but the casual 
visitor is not likely to learn what that is. Up two 
steps and to the right is the room of Mr. J. Stanley 
Brown, the President's private secretary. It is entered 
by a swinging door. Within the room are a number 
of tables, bookcases, a few chairs, and a lounge. It 
is lighted by day by large windows in the reaf or 
south side of the mansion. At night a large chan- 
delier and drop-lights give the needed illumination. 
It is from this room that most of the news about 
the President's condition comes, and through this 
room pass the consulting doctors, and others whose 
labor requires their attendance in the wounded man's 
chamber. Cabinet Ministers come here and pass 
through a little door to the right to the chamber in 
which the consultations of the President's advisers 
are usually held. Mr. Garfield's son Harry occasionally 
shows himself here, also. The presiding spirit of the 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 571 

apartment is Mr. Brown, who, though very young, 
has shown himself possessed of many rare and en- 
viable qualities. He has the entree to the chamber 
where the President lies, and by reason of his posi- 
tion is called upon constantly to disclose information 
for bulletins for publication in newspapers and for the 
benefit of friends. For several days he had hardly 
any sleep at all. He remained awake in his anxiety 
for his suffering chief, eager to do what he could to 
keep the latter from worrying. No body-servant, no 
nurse, no relative could be more solicitous. He has 
looked after inquiries and routine business from the 
outside, and has been in personal attendance on the 
President without regard to his own health, much 
less comfort. Yet, despite all this, he has borne him- 
self with surprising evenness of temper. No one has 
heard him say an ill-natured or an angry word, or has 
seen him display any petulance. His good nature is 
something which never deserts him. It is said that 
the President regards him with the same affection 
and esteem as though he were one of his own children. 
Be this as it may, hundreds can bear testimony that if 
he had really been bound by ties of blood to the Presi- 
dent he could not have acted with more tenderness, 
better judgment, or less regard for self than he has 
done and is doing. It may be that he is simply fol- 
lowing the example of his employer. He could not 
pattern, so all here say, after a better model. 

Bulletins are multiplied by a copying process, and 
there is quite a pile of copies of each one. Among the 
first distributed is that to the New York Associated 



672 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

Press, which keeps an agent in the White House, with 
a telegraph instrument connecting by direct wire with 
New York city. An agent is on duty day and night. 
Latterly, as the President's symptoms have become 
more and more favorable, the duties of the agent have 
become less onerous. But at the start and for the 
first three days the bulletins were never more than 
fifteen minutes apart. The operator's room is east of 
Mr. Brown's room. His bulletins have not all been 
official. Indeed, very few of them have been. The 
ofilcial bulletins are those to which the names of several 
attending doctors are attached. The other bulletins 
were the result of interviews, and gave, as quickly as 
could be ascertained, the very latest indications from 
the President's chamber. 

The room in which the President lies is in the south- 
west corner of the building, and in order to reach it 
one must, after reaching the private secretary's apart- 
ment, pass in succession through the Cabinet and the 
doctors' rooms. Members of the Cabinet and their 
wives have been in constant attendance. At the out- 
set, indeed, and especially during the first two nights, 
several of them remained awake by turns all night 
long. It would be invidious to make any compari- 
sons as to the respective services of these estimable 
ladies. Mrs. Blaine, Mrs. James, and Mrs. Hunt not 
only watched, but they at times made suggestions 
which the most experienced physicians found useful. 
It must not be supposed, howev:er, that the President 
has had no other watchers, for that is not tlie case. 
Under General Swaim's able direction everything has 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 573 

been done to give relief to the wounded man, who 
has had skilful, sleepless watchers constantly at his 
bedside. The doctors themselves have been in the 
adjoining apartment, and at least four of them have 
always been on the spot and prepared for any emer^ 
gency. At first the demands on their time and atten- 
tion made themselves severely felt, but within the last 
day or two they have by turns managed to get the rest 
they so sadly needed. As has already been stated in 
these despatches, the only person whose visits to the 
sick-room have been unrestricted has been the wife 
of the wounded man. The physicians, seeing her in- 
telligent bearing and conduct, and observing the cheer 
and confidence which husband and wife imparted to one 
another merely by their mutual presence, speedily put 
Mrs. Garfield, and rightly, too, in the category of the 
aids to nature. Their mutual affection has been more 
potent than the doctors' physic. 

The members of the President's Cabinet have been 
conspicuous actors in the scenes which the Executive 
Mansion has been witnessing within the last six days. 
At the outset, with them, as with their wives, the rule 
was sleepless nights. Messrs. Blaine and James espe- 
cially showed the effects of their watching. Both these 
gentlemen have been very kind and courteous in an- 
swering the inquiries of anxious friends and of the 
public in general, and they have won the good opinion 
of numberless persons, not least among whom are the 
newspaper correspondents. Within a day or two Messrs. 
Blaine and James have brightened up again, and look 
natural once more. Each is called upon daily to an- 



574 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

swer many despatches, and does so cheerfully, especially 
since their news has been all of a favorable character. 
Messrs. Windom, KirkAvood, Hunt, and Lincoln have 
also done all in their power which they have been 
called upon to do, and are no less deserving of praise. 
When the balance-sheet of these trying days comes to 
be taken it will be found necessary to transfer many 
mutual debts of kindnesses, courtesies, good feelings, 
and good wishes. 

On the eighth the President passed a more com- 
fortable day, and more hopeful symptoms were ob- 
served. He slept well, ate with relish, and digested his 
food. 

The news of the attempt upon the President's life 
was at once telegraphed from Washington to all parts 
of the Union, and to Europe. Everywhere it created 
the most intense grief and indignation. In almost 
every city, town, and village in the Union business was 
well nigh entirely suspended. Vast crowds surrounded 
tlie bulletin-boards of the newspapers, awaiting in 
silence the receipt of the numerous bulletins from 
Washington. When they announced a change for the 
better a ringing cheer would rise from the crowds ; but 
when an unfavorable bulletin arrived it was received 
with profound and sorrowful sadness. The most earnest 
sympathy with the illustrious sufferer, and the warmest 
admiration for the firmness and courage with which he 
bore his sufferings, were everywhere manifested. From 
Europe numerous messages of sympathy with the 
President and his family, and horror at the crime, were 
received at the White House. 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIEIJ). 575 

At first the attempted assassination was widely be- 
lieved to be the result of a conspiracy, but at length it 
became apparent to the Government and to the people, 
that it was but the cold-blooded act of a confirmed 
villain. The man who fired the dastardly shot was 
Charles Jules Guiteau, of Illinois. He is a short, thick- 
set, solid-looking man, about forty-five, bald-headed, 
with a rim of sandy hair and sandy moustache. He 
speaks French and German fluently, which tends to con- 
fuse his real nationality. He dresses decently and has 
the general appearance of a respectable beat who lives 
by his wits. Guiteau is a familiar figure about Washing- 
ton and is known about the White House, where he 
has been frequently pointed out to reporters as one of 
the regular haunters of the antechambers. He was 
generally regarded by attaches as a harmless nuisance. 
He was first observed about the 1st of March, and be- 
gan to haunt the White House immediately after the 
inauguration. He was an applicant for the Consulship 
at Marseilles, France, and pretended to be recom- 
mended by John A. Logan and other prominent poli- 
ticians of Illinois. 

« 

His favorite method was to call and present his card, 
whereon he would often write little notes like the 
following, which would appear to give some insight to 
his distemper : 

" I regret the trouble you are having with Senator 
Conkling. You are right and should maintain your 
position. You have my support and that of all 
patriotic citizens. I would like an audience of a few 
moments." 



576 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

Of course these notes were never seen by the Presi- 
dent. Very often he would sit about the anteroom 
for hours and say nothing, and at others he was insolent 
toward the White House officials. The latter inter- 
fered with his carrying off White House stationery, 
which he resented. The last collision of this nature 
occurred about ten days ago, since when he has changed 
his haunt from the President's Mansion to the War 
Department library. Of late he has had no particular 
abiding place, sleeping in the public parks. He has 
been seen to go out with a small parcel under his 
arm and change his linen behind a tree in the public 
grounds. 

That the assassination of Garfield had been delib- 
erated on and carefully planned by him is plainly ap- 
parent from the dramatic manner of its execution and 
the papers prepared beforehand. He had arranged 
with the colored driver of hack 195, named Aquilla 
Barton, to drive him away from the depot the instant 
the bloody deed was accomplished. The hackman is 
a very smart colored man and says he was approached 
by Guiteau, who was a perfect stranger to him, and 
asked if he had a team that would go very fast ; he 
should need one pretty soon. The hackman said he 
had and asked him where he wanted to go. The 
stranger replied that he wanted to go to the cemetery 
and would give him two dollars to drive him there as 
fast as the horses could go. He then gave directions 
for the hack to stand at B-street door and take him 
up at a given signal and drive away without stopping 
to ask questions. 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 577 

There was nothing in his manner, accorcling to the 
hackman, to give any suspicion of the real intentions 
of the assassin. He had even explained to the hack- 
man that he had engaged another man (Tajlor) the 
night before to do the job, but he had not turned up and 
that was why he now called on Barton. 

" If I'd knowed what he was up to," said Barton, 
" I'd a drove him to the cemetery right thar." 

Both of these hackmen were arrested this evening 
by order of District Attorney Corkhill and placed 
under surveillance until they can be thoroughly 
examined. 

"When Guiteau had fired his second shot and made 
for the B-street entrance of the depot, where hack 195 
waited, he found his plan of escape wouldn't work. 
Depot Policeman Parks sprang between him and the 
exit and the assassin then turned the other way. 
Here he was confronted by Officer Kearney, and both 
officers seized him at once. As they dragged him 
throu2;h the crowd he flourished a sealed letter in one 
hand and shouted in a highly dramatic manner: 
"Arthur is Pre.sident of the United States now. I am 
a Stalwart. This letter will tell you everything. I 
want you to take it to General Sherman." The letter 
in question was taken from him at police headquarters, 
and is the one addressed to the White House. 

He was deprived of his pistol on arrest. It is an 
ugly-looking weapon, of what is known as the five- 
barreled British bull-dog pattern, of 44-calibre, with a 
white bone handle, and had three loads undischarged. 
He did not throw it away, but flourished it in liis hand 

37 



578 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

when he ran, everybody about the waiting-room 
dodging from in front of it without regard to ap- 
pearances. 

Besides the letter above mentioned Guiteau had 
left a parcel of papers at the news-stand in the depot. 
There were two large packages. An examination of 
these mysterious documents was made by District- 
Attorney Gorki) ill and Golonel W. A. Cook, his assist- 
ant. Tney also sent for Byron Andrews, who is 
mentioned in the assassin's letter. Mr. Andrews is 
the correspondent in charge of the Washington bureau 
of the Ghicago Inter- Ocean. In his own defence An- 
drews makes the following statement : 

" It was reported on the street that a package of 
p.'ipers was found on the person of Guiteau addressed 
to me. On hearing this rumor I repaired at once to 
the City Hall and found District-Attorney Corkhill in 
possession of the documents. I then made a sworn 
statement that I did not know Guiteau ; never heard 
of him until to-day, and had no knowledge of any of 
his operations. The District Attorney thought best 
not to deliver the documents addressed to me. He 
let me see the contents of a-personal note to me, which 
was written on a single sheet of paper and enclosed in 
a small envelope, which was found in the package. 
The contente were about like this : 'I am a stranger to 
you ; you don't know me. I know you by reputation 
as a journalist. I have chosen 3'ou as tlie person to 
whom I will commit the accampanying documents for 
distribution. I wish you to see that a proper state- 
juent of the affair goes to the American press.' Then 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 579 

he signs his name and says he is from Freeport, Illi- 
nois. I never heard of him," repeated Mr. Andrews, 
"and did not know there was such a man living as 
Guiteau." 

Mr. Andrews is well and favorably known to all 
correspondents on the row. No one doubts his state- 
ment who knows him. The reason he was selected as 
the custodian of the assassin's papers is probably due 
to the fact that he was the representative of the only 
Stalwart paper in Chicago. 

The arrest was made so promptly that the prisoner 
was on the way to police headquarters before the crowd 
about the depot fairly caught an idea of the great crime 
which had been perpetrated. Officers escorted Guiteau 
to police headquarters, three squares down Pennsyl- 
vania avenue. Before they had covered half the dis- 
tance, however, the news had overtaken them. A 
great crowd soon gathered in and about the vicinity 
of headquarters, and the shouts of " Lynch him ! " 
"Tear down the building!" "Hang him!" made it 
soon apparent to the police that the place could not 
be made strong enough to hold the assassin against any 
ordinarily excited mob, thousands flocking in every 
moment from every direction, especially from the scene 
of the assassination. A hack was therefore imme- 
diately procured and, surrounded by a large body of 
police, the prisoner thrown therein, and rapidly driven 
through the howling mob before it had made up its 
mind to a plan of operations, and away to the jail on 
the bank of the Anacostia. 

Lieutenant Eckloff, who rode to jail with Guiteau, 



580 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

states that on the way down he conversed freely about 
the matter, saying that his only purpose was to unite 
the Republican party. On arriving at the jail the 
jailors, finding what the matter was, said they had 
seen him before, and, while they were discussing where 
they had seen him, the prisoner said : 

" I can tell you when it was. I was down here last 
Saturday and got your permission to look over the 
jail, as I wanted to see what kind of place I had to 
come to." 

Then the keepers remembered him. He was then 
locked up. The prisoner stated to Detective McElfresh 
he contemplated this act six weeks ago and had made 
preparations for it. Detective McElfresh asked him if 
he was an American. He replied : 

" Yes ; born and raised in this country and a citizen 
of Chicago." 

Mr. McElfresh asked what political party he belonged 
to and the reply was : 

" I am a Stalwart of the Stalwarts. I have shot 
Garfield to make Arthur President. What are you ? " 
inquired the prisoner. 

He was informed that his escort was a detective. 

"All right," said Guiteau. " Give me a room in the 
third story and I will arrange with General Sherman 
to make you Chief of Police." 

There was nothing in his manner to lead to the be- 
lief that he was insane except every now and then 
such expressions. There is much doubt expressed on 
this point, a good many being of the opinion that his 
insanity business fs but a new copy of the old dodge 
to escape the penalty of murder. 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 581 

The following letter was taken from the prisoner's 
pocket at police headquarters : 

''July 2, 1881. 
**To THE White House : The President's tragic death 
was a sad necessity, but it will unite the Republican 
party and save the republic. Life is a flimsy dream 
and it matters little when one goes. A human life is 
•f small value. During the war thousands of brave 
boys went down without a tear. I presume the Presi- 
dent was a Christian and that he will be happier in 
Paradise than here. It will be no worse for Mrs. Gar- 
field, dear soul, to part with her husband this way 
than by natural death. He is liable to go at any time, 
anyway. I had no ill will toward the President. His 
death was a political necessity. I am a lawyer, a theo- 
logian and a politician. I am a Stalwart of the Stalwarts. 
I was with General Grant and the rest of our men in 
New York during the canvass. I have some papers 
for the press which I shall leave with Byron Andrews 
and his cojournalists, at 1420 New York avenue, where 
all the reporters can see them. I am going to the jail. 

"Charles Guiteau." 

Byron Andrews, who is the Washington correspond- 
ent of the Chicago Inter -Ocean, says that while it is 
true a package of papers is in the hands of the police, 
accompanied by a note addressed to himself, he has no 
personal acquaintance with Guiteau, and never heard 
of his existence until this morning. From what he 
has gathered from the police Andrews believes that 
Guiteau's home is in Freeport, Illinois. 

The following letter was found on the street shortly 
after Guiteau's arrest. The envelope was unsealed and 
was addressed : " Please deliver at once to General 



582 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

Sherman (or his first assistant in charge of the War 
Department):" 

" To General Sherman : I have just shot the Presi- 
dent. I shot him several times, as I wished him to 
go as easily as possible. His death was a political 
necessity. I am a lawyer, theologian and politician. 
I am a Stalwart of the Stalwarts. I was with General 
Grant and the rest of our men in New York during 
the canvass. I am going to the jail. Please order out 
your troops and take possession of the jail at once. 

"Very respectfully, 

"Charles Guiteau." 

On receiving the above General Sherman gave it the 
following indorsement : 

" Headquarters of the Army, 
"Washington, D. C, July 2, 1881—11.35 a. m. 
" This letter . . . was handed me this minute by 
Major William J. Twining, United States Engineers, 
Commissioner of the District of Columbia, and Major 
William G. Brock, Chief of Police. I don't know the 
writer, never heard of or saw him to my knowledge, 
and hereby return it to the keeping of the above- 
named parties as testimony in the case. 

" W. T. Sherman, General." 

The father and brother of the assassin give the 
following accounts of him : 

The brother, John W. Guiteau, of Boston, says: 
Charles Julius was born in Freeport, Illinois, in 1841 
or 1842. He was one of the children of L. W. Guiteau, 
late cashier of Second National Bank, of Freeport, Illi- 
nois. Mr. Guiteau, Sr., died recently, aged seventy 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 583 

years, and was one of the oldest and most esteemed 
citizens of the place. As a youth Charles Julius is re- 
ported to have been a good, tractable boy, with nothing 
to mark him as either better or worse than the average 
of his associates. Several years before he became of 
age, and while preparing for college at the University 
of Michigan, he conceived the idea of joining the Oneida 
Community, and did so. He dwelt there for some 
years, and subsequently left because he could not live 
up to the restrictions of the order. Full of anger, he 
threatened to issue a publication exposing the pecuHari- 
ties of the Community, but was prevented from doing 
that by an article written by John H. Noyes, the 
recognized head of the Community. Immediately after- 
ward he entered upon the study of law in the office of 
George Scovill, a brother-in-law, in Chicago. He was 
admitted to the bar in that city about eighteen years 
ago, but is said to never have had other than small 
office practice in way of bill collecting and such like 
small work. It is reported that he was prosecuted 
and fell into bad odor in that city on account of col- 
lecting sums of money which he failed to turn over t@ 
owners. He eventually had to leave town. 

The assassin has been travelling throughout New 
England more or less for a year or two past as a lec- 
turer, and assuming the title of reverend he advertised 
himself as a lawyer and theologian. He once claimed 
to be an honorable, and his brother telling him that 
he had no claim to such title, having never borne po- 
litical honors, he replied that any lawyer was an honor- 
able, and he knew a lawyer in Chicago who had been 



584 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

in the State Prison who advertised himself as an 
honorable. This and the matter of numerous unpaid 
board bills in Boston led to a wordy controversy, which 
resulted in Charles being expelled from his brother's 
house, and subsequently violently ejected from his office, 
as he would neither take advice nor mend his evil ways 
and fraudulent practices. This was about fourteen 
months ago, Charles has been in jail in New York 
for debt. He has been shown up by Chicago and New 
York papers for irregularities, and has sued them in 
return for libel, with no favorable result to himself. 
At one time he formed a scheme to buy the Chicago 
Inter-Ocean, and asked the president of the Second 
National Bank of Freeport, Illinois, to loan him $25,- 
000 with which to purchase it, promising the president 
of the bank as an inducement that he would secure 
his election as Governor of Illinois. The project was 
not entertained. In numerous places Charles Julius 
has lectured to very small audiences, advertising him- 
self as Charles J. Guiteau, the celebrated Chicago 
lawyer of eminence and ability, etc., and skipping out 
without paying his hotel and other bills. The brother 
above quoted says that he never knew that Charles 
was a drinker or given to any ruinous species of dis- 
sipation ; that he has seen little of him for twenty 
years, but has often heard from, or, rather, of him; that 
he has long considered him crazy, and expected sooner 
or later, if he lived, that he would bring up in a lunatic 
asvlum or meet a worse fate. 

The following is an extract from a letter, dated March 
30, 1873, from the father of the assassin to John W. 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 585 

Guiteau, his brother, in this city, in which he refers to 
his son Charles as follows : 

" I have been ready to believe him capable of almost 
any folly, stupidity or rascality. The one possible ex- 
cuse that I can render for him is that he is insane. 
Indeed, if I were called as witness upon the stand I am 
inclined to think I should testify that he is absolutely 
insane and is hardly responsible for his acts. My own 
impression is that unless something shall stop him in 
his folly and mad career he will become hopelessly 
insane and a fit subject for the lunatic asylum. Be- 
fore I finally gave him up I had exhausted all my 
jx)wers of reason and persuasion as well as other re- 
sources in endeavoring to control his actions and 
thoughts, but without avail. I found he was deceitful 
and could not be depended upon in anything; stub- 
born, wilful, conceited and at all times outrageously 
wicked, apparently possessed of the devil. I saw him 
once or twice when it seemed to me he was willing to 
do almost anything wicked he should happen to take 
fancy to. You will remember, perhaps, at the last 
conversation we had about him, I told you to keep 
clear of him and not have anything to do with him. 
Should anybody ask about him now I should be com- 
pelled to say to them that I thought he was insane, or 
at least a monomaniac, and should there leave it and 
say no more about him. His insanity is of such a 
character that he is as likely to become a sly, cunning 
desperado as anything. Could I see him I might pos- 
sibly make another and vigorous effort to change the 
whole channel of his thoughts and feelinsrs. If I could 



586 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

not do that I should have no hope whatever of being 
able to do him any good. I made up my mind long 
ago never to give him another dollar in money until I 
should be convinced he was thoroughly humbled and 
radically changed. I am sometimes afraid he would 
steal, rob, or do anything before his egotism and self- 
conceit shall be knocked out of him, and perhaps even 
all that will not do it. So I, you see, regard his case as 
hopeless or nearly so, and, of course, know no other 
way but to dismiss him entirely from my mind and 
leave him entirely in the hands of his Maker, with a 
very faint hope that he can be changed either in this 
world or the next." 

The following statement concerning the shooting 
was furnished to the press by District-Attorney Cork- 
hill, on the 14th of July, in order to correct certain 
erroneous assertions which had been made relative to 
Guiteau and his crime : 

" The interest felt by the public in the details of the 
assassination and the many stories published justify me 
in stating that the following is a correct and accurate 
statement concerning the points to which reference is 
made : 

"The assassin, Charles J. Guiteau, came to Waslu 
ington city on Sunday, March 6, 1881, and stopped at 
the Ebbitt House, remaining only one day. He then 
secured a room in another part of the city and has 
boarded and roomed at various places, the full details 
of which I have. On Wednesday, May 18, 1881, the 
assassin determined to murder the President. He had 
neither money nor pistol at the time. About the last 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 587 

of May he went into O'Meara's store, corner of Fifteenth 
and F streets, in this city, and examined some pistcls, 
asking for the largest calibre. He was shown two, 
similar in calibre and only different in the price. On 
Wednesday, June 8, he purchased the pistol which he 
used, for which he paid $10, he having in the meantime 
borrowed $15 of a gentleman in this city on the ple.i 
that he Wanted to pay his board bill. On the same 
evening about seven o'clock he took the pistol and went 
to the foot of Seventeenth street and practised firing 
at a board, firing ten shots. He then returned to his 
boarding place and wiped the pistol dry and wrapped 
it up in his coat, and waited his opportunity. 

"On Sunday morning, June 12, he was sitting in 
Lafayette Park, and saw the President leave for the 
Christian Church, on Vermont avenue, and he at once 
returned to his room, obtained his pistol, put it in his 
hip-pocket and followed the President to church. He 
entered the church, but found he could not kill him 
there without danger of killing some one else. He no- 
ticed that the President sat near a window. After 
church he made an examination of the window, and 
found he could reach it without an}^ trouble, and that 
from this point he could shoot the President through 
the head without killing any one else. The following 
Wednesday he went to the church, examined the loca- 
tion and the window, and became satisfied he could 
accomplish his purpose, and he determined, therefore, 
to make the attempt at the church the following Sun- 
day. He learned from the papers that the President 
would leave the city on Saturday, the 18th of June, 



588 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

with Mrs. Garfield, for Long Branch. He therefore 
determuied to meet him at the depot. He left his 
boarding place about five o'clock Saturday morn- 
ing, June 18, and went down to the river, at the 
foot of Seventeenth street, and fired five shots to 
practice his aim and be certain his pistol was in good 
order. 

" He then went to the depot and was in tfee ladies' 
waiting-room of the depot, with his pistol ready, when 
the Presidential party entered. He says Mrs. Garfield 
looked so weak and frail that he had not the heart to 
shoot the President in her presence, and as he knew 
he would have another opportunity he left the depot. 
He had previously engaged a carriage to take him to 
the jail. On Wednesday evening the President and 
his son, and, I think, United States Marshal Henry, 
went out for a ride. The assassin took his pistol and 
followed them and watched them for some time in 
hopes the carriage would stop, but no opportunity was 
given. On Friday evening, July 1, he was sitting on 
the seat in the park opposite the White House when 
he saw the President come out alone ; he followed him 
down the avenue to Fifteenth street, and then kept on 
the opposite side of the street up Fifteenth until the 
President entered the residence of Secretary Blaine. 
He waited at the corner of Mr. Morton's late residence, 
corner Fifteenth and H streets, for some time, and then, 
as he was afraid he would attract attention, he went 
into the alley in the rear of Mr. Morton's residence, 
examined his pistol and waited. The President and 
Secretary Blaine came out together, and he followed 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 589 

them on foot to the gate of the White House, but could 
get no opportunity to use his weapon. 

" On the morning of Saturday, July 2, he breakfasted 
at the Riggs House about seven o'clock. He then 
walked up into the park and sat there for an hour. 
He then took a one-horse avenue car and rode to Sixth 
street, got out and went into the depot and loitered 
there, had his shoes blackened, engaged a hackman for 
$2 to take him to the jail, went into the water-closet 
and took his pistol out of his hip-pocket and unwrapped 
the paper from around it, which he had put there for 
the purpose of preventing the perspiration from the 
body dampening the powder, examined his pistol care- 
fully, tried the trigger, and then returned and took a 
seat in the ladies' waiting-room, and as soon as the 
President entered advanced behind him and fired two 
shots. These facts, I think, can be relied upon as 
accurate, and I give them to the public to contradict 
certain false rumors in connection with this most 
atrocious of atrocious crimes." 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE president's ILLNESS. 

Second "Week of the President's Illness — Alarming Svmptoms — Cause of the 
Relapse — Stniggle between Life and Death — A Painful Operation — Loca- 
ting tlie Bullet — The Induction Balance — Progress of the Case — Hopes 
of Recovery — Courage of the President — He desires to leave Wash- 
ington — Sympathy of Foreign Powers — Letter from Mr. Gladstone — 
Anodier Painful Operation — Another Relapse — Dangers of Malaria — An 
anxioiis Sunday — A Period of Danger — Sympathy from China — A New 
Comj^lication — Inflammation of the Parotid Gland — Progress of this Feat- 
ure of the Ca.<^ — Incidents in the Sick Room — The President holding his 
own — The Surgeons decide upon Removal — An Alarming Relapse — 
Another bad Saturday — A Fight for Life — A Message from Queen 
Victoria — Scenes at the Sufferer's Bedside — An Interview with his 
Children — A Change for the Better — Continued Improvement — Dr. Bliss' 
Opinions — Scenes in and about the AVhite House — Preparations for 
Removing the President to Long Branch — Public Prayers for the Presi- 
dent — He parts with his Sons — The Preparations for Removal to Long 
Branch Continued — Action of the Pennsylvania Railroad — The Cottage 
at Long Branch — The Departure from Washington — Incidents of the 
Journey — Arrival at Long Branch — The President in his new Quarters — 
Success of tlie Journey — A Change for the Better — The First Week by 
the Seaside — A Touching Incident — Renewed Signs of Danger. 

From the Sth of July the President remained verj' 
much in the same condition as that which had marked 
the first week after the attempt upon his life. On the 
whole there seemed a steady progress towards improve- 
ment, but at times there were chanfres which sorely 
tried the skill and courage of the attending physicians. 

(590) 



ASSA^SSIXATION OF PRESIDENT GAEFIELD. 591 

A.I1 through this anxious period President Garfield 
displayed the highest personal courage and firmness, 
submitting himself, with childlike faith, to the directions 
of his physicians, but at the same time bearing up 
against every discouraging symptom with a courage 
and determination that both astonished and encouraged 
his medical attendants. One of the chief hindrances 
to his recoverv was found to be the intense heat of the 
summer, but he bore all the discomforts arising from it 
with patience and cheerfulness. To mitigate the torrid 
temperature a refrigerating apparatus was introduced 
into the sick-room. It worked successfully, and by 
means of it the physicians were generally able to reduce 
the temperature to an endurable degree without sub- 
jecting their patient to the dangers of draughts or 
sudden changes of temperature. In short, an equable 
degree of coolness was maintained in the chamber 
throughout the President's stay at the White House. 

On the 11th of July, slightly unfavorable symptoms 
manifested tliemselves, the pulse growing higher, and 
an increased degree of fever setting in. This caused 
n-rave anxietv to the phvsicians, but on the morning of 
the 12th a change for the better was noticed. 

" The next week passed very much like the preced- 
in^J- one. On the ISth of Julv there was a slight change 
for the woi-se, but on the 19th the President agam 
rallied. The real cause of the relapse was due to too 
much exertion, too much food, and the manipulations 
of a colored barber. " The President had been allowed," 
says the same correspondent, writing on the 19th of 
Julv, '-to eat what he chose, and having a good 



692 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

appetite had chosen food in quality and quantity such as 
only should have been given to a convalescent. By some 
misunderstanding between the patient and the doctors, 
a barber had been called in and had manipulated him 
rather roughly. It appears that the doctors arrived in 
the middle of the ceremony, and seeing the President's 
evident weariness, stopped the proceedings immediately, 
much to the barber's disgust. The President to-day 
spoke of the incident of yesterday, and appeared very 
much amused to think of it. He w^as bright and 
cheerful, as usual, and when Mrs. Garfield came in and 
read the papers to him at his request, he was in high 
good humor. Among other things she read the fact 
that Sitting Bull was starving, when the President 
playfully suggested that they should send him some of 
his oat-meal, to which he has taken a great prejudice.'^ 

On the 26th of July, the same correspondent wrote 
as follows of the condition of the President : 

" As was the case at the same hour yesterday, there 
was a very gloomy look prevalent at the White House 
this morning. The President had passed a bad night. 
His fever had gone down early in the evening, but had 
greatly arisen towards midnight. This was followed by 
renewed symptoms of the chills, but happily these un- 
favorable symptoms passed off, and there was no recur- 
rence of the chills. The patient did not get much sleep 
after twelve o'clock. Dr. Agnew, of Philadelphia, ar- 
rived about one o'clock in the morning and was received 
at the depot by Private Secretary Brown, who escorted 
him to the residence of Attorney General MacVeagh, 
whose guest he is now. He did not visit the White 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 69S 

House till this morning about eight o'clock, shortly 
after which the first consultation of the day was held. 
There was a very eager demand on the part of the pub- 
lic for news from the Executive Mansion, a demand 
which was not satisfied till a late hour. The phj^sicians 
declined to talk, and the very little that had leaked out 
through unofficial sources was not at all satisfactory. 
Half an hour later it was reported that the President was 
even much worse than reported on the bulletins. These- 
reports again flew over the city and travelled about 
the departments with such rapidity that before eleven 
o'clock the interest of day before yesterday was reawak- 
ened. One of these reports was that mortification had set 
in, another that it had been found necessary to remove a^ 
section of the rib, and still another that the physicians- 
were probing for the ball and had cut it out. These ugly 
rumors were quickly followed by the more serious one^ 
that the President was dying. No one knows whence 
this sprung, but the fact that the United States flag 
flying over the Departments of Justice was at half-mast 
appeared to justify the report in the minds of those at 
a distance who heard it. It appeared, however, that 
the flag was lowered in respect to the memor}^ of the 
late Justice Clifford. The truth was, that shortly after 
the issuance of tlie morning bulletin the President was 
again attacked with vomiting, which was followed by 
an alarming febrile rise. The indications were that the 
wound was partially closed, the discharge of pus hav- 
ing become very slight. Upon examination it was de- 
cided that a pus cavity was again in process of forma- 
tion, and immediate steps were taken for the relief of 

38 



594 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

the patient. The flexible tube, which had been passed 
from the incision to the juncture of the track of the 
ball and the broken rib, was removed by Dr. Agnew, 
and a finger inserted into the incision and the cause of 
the irritation instantly discovered. Small pieces of 
splintered bone were felt and were removed, but not 
without some difficulty. A portion of the fractured 
rib, measuring half an inch in length, was one of these 
pieces. 

" The operation was a very painful one and took some 
time to complete it. Most of the pieces were removed 
by the finger, but one of the fragments was lifted by 
means of an instrument called an elevator. The opera- 
tion was performed by Dr. Agnew, and borne remark- 
ably well by the President. A straight tube was 
inserted through the incision to the spot where the pus 
cavity and the pieces of broken rib were discovered. 
The original wound will now be permitted to heal, and 
the lower orifice be depended upon for the discharge 
of the pus. This incision opens a more direct com- 
munication with the channel of the ball and the spot 
where the rib is fractured. It appears that none of 
the physicians had anticipated an additional crisis this 
morning, but when it came they were ready and coped 
with it successfully. The effect upon the President 
of this secondary operation, if it may be called such, 
was to afford immediate relief. There was no percep- 
tible rise in temperature at the close, although it took 
nearly two hours. On the contrary, the relief to the 
President became immediately apparent. Within an 
hour afterwards he was asleep, and slept very well at 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 595 

intervals during the day. It is thought by the physi- 
cians that the fractured rib has been a great source of 
irritation and largely the cause of the chills and fever. 
It is possible there are still other small pieces of bone 
yet to come, but these will work out of their own accord. 
Dr. Agnew succeeded in pressing the broken portions 
of the rib back into their normal position, where, if 
all the parts are removed, they will quickly knit. By 
noon the President was said to be quite comfortable 
and all the physicians appeared to be satisfied. Cheer- 
fulness again returned to the occupants of the White 
House." 

From the period of the wounding of President Gar- 
field, his physicians had recognized that one of the 
gravest dangers attending his recovery was the pres- 
ence of the bullet in his body. It was deemed best, 
in his exhausted condition, not to attempt its removal, 
which would require a painful operation, but to allow 
it to remain, trusting that it would in time become en- 
cysted, and so cause the patient but little trouble until 
renewed strength should enable him to bear the re- 
moval of it. Several attempts were made to find the 
exact location of the ball, the most successful being by 
means of the " Induction Balance," invented by Pro- 
fessor Alexander Graham Bell. On the 1st of August 
the instrument was applied with great success, and the 
exact location of the ball was definitely ascertained. 
This instrument, modified so as to impart to it the 
highest degree of sensitiveness, was used in the search 
for the leaden ball. Its nature is such that it is not 
easily understood except by electricians. It consists of 



596 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

a battery, two coils of insulated wire, a circuit-breaker, 
and a telephone. The ends of the primary coil are 
connected with a battery, and those of the secondary 
coil are fastened to the posts of the telephone. This 
latter connection renders audible any faint sound pro- 
duced by the circuit-breaker, or any change in the pitch 
of that sound. The coils may be so placed in their re- 
lations to each other that no sound is made by the 
circuit-breaker. They are then said to be balanced, 
and the wires are extremely sensitive to the disturbing 
presence of any other piece of metal. A bullet like 
that with which the President was shot, before it was 
flattened, will, when placed within two and one-half 
inches of the most sensitive point on the pair of coils, 
cause a faint protest against the disturbance to arise 
in the telephone. A flattened bullet of the same bulk, 
when presented with its flat surface toward the coils, 
will make its presence felt at a distance of nearly five 
inches. When its sharp edge is turned toward the 
plane of the coils, no sound is produced beyond the 
distance of one inch. 

With these facts in view, the experiments to locate 
the position of the bullet in the President's body were 
begun. The patient was bolstered up in bed, and he 
watched the proceedings with mute interest. His 
physicians stood around. Professor Bell stood with his 
back toward the President, holding the telephone to his 
ear, while Mr. Taintor, Professor Bell's assistant, moved 
the coils over that portion of the abdomen where the 
leaden ball was thought to be imlfedded. When the 
sensitive centre of the instrument was immediately 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 597 

over the black and blue spot that appeared shortly 
after the President was wounded, Professor Bell said : 
" Stop ! there it is." 

The experiment was repeated several times — once 
with Mrs. Garfield listening at the telephone; and she 
told the President when the coils had been brought to 
the spot where the presence of the bullet had previously 
caused the delicate instrument to give forth a singing 
sound. From these tests it was inferred that in any 
event the bullet was less than five inches from the 
surface, and that if it was only slightly flattened, or if 
its edge was turned obliquely toward the surface, it 
might be much nearer to the skin. The conclusion 
reached was that if it should become necessary to re- 
move the bullet at any time, this might be speedily 
accomplished by two quick cuts with the surgeon's 
lancet. 

The days passed on, presenting very few changes. 
The general course of the patient's illness seemed to 
offer strong grounds for hope of recovery. Yet he 
was terribly ill all the while, and each day's events 
were but a record of a manful battle for life, assisted 
by all that medical or surgical skill could devise. 
Throughout the whole of the trying period the Presi- 
dent maintained his calm courage and cheerfulness, 
and was hopeful when even his mo^t trusted medical 
attendants were wrestling with despair. 

On the 2d of August the correspondent of the Phila- 
delpMa Times wrote : 

" There is nothing new or striking in the news from 
the White House to-day. The President passed a very 



598 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

agreeable night, sleeping most of the time, and awoke 
feeling refreshed. The morning bulletin showed that 
everything was favorable, and that the patient was 
comfortable and cheerful. He was again raised into 
a semi-sitting posture, and remained in this position 
until after he had taken his breakfast. This meal 
included coffee and a small piece of rare beefsteak, and 
toast saturated with milk. The surgeons continue to 
give him koumiss occasionally in the place of an equal 
quantity of milk, and the President is said to evince a 
singular fondness for this Tartar stimulant. He is 
not permitted to retain the sitting posture long enough 
to be tired, though the change is so agreeable that 
he is able to stand it about half the time during the 

day." 

The wounding of President Garfield was telegraphed 
all over the world, and everywhere aroused the 
warmest manifestations of sympathy. All the foreign 
ministers to the United States received orders to express 
to the Secretary of State, and through him to the 
family of the President, the earnest sympathy of their 
governments with the illustrious sufferer, and their 
hearty detestation of the crime of which he was the 
victim. The Queen of England manifested the liveliest 
sympathy, and in repeated despatches to her minister 
at Washington, sought to know the condition of the 
President, and sent the most sympathizing messages to 
Mrs. Garfield. England's great heart went out warmly 
to the wounded ruler, and numerous public meetings 
in Great Britain sent resolutions of sympathy and 
respect for the victim, and horror at the crime. One 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 599 

of the most gratifying of these evidences of friendship 
was embodied in the following letter from the Prime 
Minister of Great Britain to Mrs. Garfield : 

"London, July 21st, 1881. 

" Dear Madame : — You will, I am sure, excuse me, 
though a personal stranger, for addressing you by 
letter to convey to you the assurances of my own 
feelings and those of my countrymen on the occasion 
of the late horrible attempt to murder the President 
of the United States in a form more palpable at least 
than that of messages conve^'ed by telegraph. Those 
feelings have been feelings in the first instance of 
sympathy, and afterwards of joy and thankfulness 
almost comparable, I venture to say only second, to 
the strong emotions of the great nation of which he 
is the appointed head. Individually, I have, let me 
beg you to believe, had my full share in the 
sentiments which have possessed the British nation. 
They have»been prompted and quickened largely by 
what I venture to think is the ever-growing sense of 
harmony and mutual respect and affection between 
the countries, and of a relationship which, from year 
to year becomes more and more a practical bond of 
union between us. But they have also drawn much 
o^ their strength from a cordial admiration of the 
simple heroism which has marked the personal 
conduct of the President, for we have not yet wholly 
lost the capacity of appreciating such an example of 
Christian faith and manly fortitude. This exemplary 
picture has been made complete by your own con- 



coo JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

tribution to its noble and touching features, on which 
I only forbear to dwell because I am directly address- 
ing you. I beg to have my respectful compliments 
and congratulations conveyed to the President, and to 
remain, dear madame, with great esteem, your most 
faithful servant, 

"W. E. Gladstone." 

Secretary Blaine sent an appropriate reply, saying : 

" I am requested by Mrs. Garfield to say that among 
the many thousand manifestations of interest and ex- 
pressions of sympath}^ which have reached her, none 
has more deeply touched her heart than the kind 
words of Mr. Gladstone." 

On the 8th of August the surgeons made another 
examination of the wound with the probe, in order to 
ascertain the exact location of the assassin's bullet. 
The operation was painful and trying, but resulted in 
showing that the wound inflicted by Guiteau's pistol 
was of a far less serious character than was for a long 
time supposed. It appeared that some of the dangers 
most feared had no real existence, and that there was 
reason to apprehend neither an unfavorable turn nor 
lasting inconvenience from the continued presence of 
the bullet in the President's body. 

The President at first seemed to sink under the 
painful operation, but at length rallied, and Dr. 
Agnew declared his condition so favorable that he re- 
turned to Philadelphia on the afternoon of the 9th. 
On that day the President wrote his name on a tablet 
with a pen, at the request of his physicians, who 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 601 

wanted to test his nervous system. The experiment 
resulted in a very tolerable signature. 

Alarming symptoms now began to manifest them- 
selves. The pulse did not diminish, and the high 
temperature was steadily maintained, showing that the 
President's life was being gradually wasted away. In 
addition to this, the weather was intensely warm and 
trying, and the pestilential low grounds between the 
Executive Mansion and the Potomac began to send up 
their noxious vapors, which threatened to afflict the 
already worn-out sufferer with malarial fever. The 
President fully realized the danger of this last compli- 
cation, and frequently expressed a wish to be removed 
from Washington to some healthier place. The 
physicians, however, while fully recognizing the neces- 
sity for a removal at the earliest hour, were unani- 
mously of the opinion that the President was yet too 
weak to bear the fatigue of a journey, no matter how 
short. 

On Sunday night, August 14th, the President 
suffered an alarming relapse, which aroused the gravest 
anxiety on the part of his physicians, and sent a thrill 
of grief throughout the country. On Monday morning, 
the 15th, it was rumored in Washington that the 
President was dying. This, happily, proved to be 
false. 

" The situation on Tuesday, August 16th, was very 
little changed from that of the previous day. The 
anxiety of Monday continued throughout the day, but 
was attended with less excitement. 

" No words of consolation could be obtained from 



602 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

the White House after the noon bulletin was issued. 
In fact very little information of an official character 
could be obtained at all. The doctors and those who 
had access to the sick chamber kept themselves out of 
the way during the afternoon. The gloomy look of 
yesterday was again visible on the faces which gathered 
in the room of Private Secretary Brown. The mem- 
bers of the Cabinet, who came in and out at various 
times during the day, were indisposed to talk about 
the matter. Attorney General MacVeagh said that he 
considered the situation as very critical indeed. He 
had no idea that the President would be able to pull 
through. To him it looked as if everybody should be 
prepared for the end, which was apparently near at 
hand. Secretary Lincoln arrived from New York and 
immediately presented himself at the White House, 
where he has been most of the day. Secretary Win- 
dom and wife and Attorney General MacVeagh and 
wife remained at the White House till noon. At half- 
past eleven the Chinese Minister, Chin Lan Pin, ac- 
companied by one of the attaches of the Chinese Lega- 
tion, called. They were dressed in full court costume. 
The object was to convey to Mrs. Garfield a message of 
sympathy from the Chinese Emperor, and they were 
received in the Blue Room with the ordinary ceremony 
of state. Secretary Blaine is not expected to arrive 
before to-morrow. The fact that he has been sent for 
has been disputed, but it is stated with equal authority 
that he has been telegraphed and may be here by to- 
morrow night. The White House this afternoon bears 
the appearance of a house over which hangs th« 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD 603 

shadow of death. The disappointment of the noon bul- 
letin is exhibited in every f\ice. Even those whose hopes 
were not extinguished by the patient's condition last 
night received the intelligence of the continued prostra- 
tion of the President with feelings akin to despair. 
There appears to be some who are impressed with a sort 
of blind faith that the President will get through every- 
thing successfully. They can give no reason for the 
faith which is within them, but are none the less 
stubbornly fixed in the belief. Up to this afternoon this 
appeared to inspire Private Secretary Brown more than 
anybody about the White House. This afternoon, 
however, he bears the appearance of having completely 
broken down. The face of this favorite attache bore a 
look of suppressed grief which nothing but the most 
gloomy anticipations could produce. He seemed to 
want to keep out of the way, to see nobody. The 
same may be said of other attendants, along with the 
doctors. 

" Within two hours after the issuance of the noon bul- 
letin scarcely a soul remained above stairs who was acces- 
sible to the reporters. There was Assistant Secretary 
Pruden in charge, but he was not inclined to talk, and 
felt the general depression. Secretary Hunt came out 
of the library a few minutes before three o'clock, and 
was asked to give the latest condition of the President. 
He was almost dumb with grief, and only said : ' There 
is nothing at all I can say.' During this time, how- 
ever, there was no indication of increase of unfavorable 
S3''mptoms over those expressed in the noon bulletins. 
No vomiting had been reported since morning, and 



604 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

the pulse remained high, with 'the temperature in 
statu quo. 

" The midday bulletin cast a gloom over the attaches 
of the Executive Mansion, and the greatest anxiety 
prevailed. The change was even noticeable in the ex- 
pression and countenance of Private Secretary Brown, 
who has from the first entertained one of the most 
sanguine opinions that the President would recover. 
Secretary Hunt, when asked if he could say anything 
favorable regarding the present condition of the patient, 
said, in a tone which showed that he was deeply 
affected, that there was absolutely nothing to say, that 
everything that could be said was now visible from the 
outside. Mrs. Garfield is said to be as cheerful as the 
circumstances will allow, and that she entertains a 
strong belief that her husband will recover." 

On the 17th the condition of the President was about 
the same as on the previous day. On the 18th a new 
and dangerous complication manifested itself in the 
inflammation and serious swelling of the parotid gland. 
This is the salivary gland situated nearest the ear, and 
pours its secretion into the mouth during mastication. 
Its duct, called the duct of Stino, opens into the 
mouth opposite the second molar tooth. It is the same 
gland which is always affected when people have the 
mumps, and the first symptoms in the President's case 
were somewhat similar to those of a patient suffering 
from severe mumps. This was a serious complication, 
as it added an additional drain to the already heavy 
tax upon the patient's weakened system. The phy- 
sicians in attendance, while recognizing it as dangerous, 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 605 

did not, like the general public, regard it as a symptom 
of blood poisoning. Dr. Hamilton declared to the 
correspondent of the Philadelphia Ti^nes, that the in- 
flammation of the gland was not an unusual occurrence 
in such cases, and that he did not regard it as alarming. 
On the same day this correspondent wrote : 

" Dr. Bliss was asked this afternoon about the rumors 
to the effect that the swelling of the parotid gland was 
an indication of pyaemia, low fever and other compli- 
cations of a more or less serious nature, and also that 
mortification had set in. The doctor said that it was 
very curious to him, in view of the fact that pyaemia 
was such a specific disease, that some people will 
insist that the President has it, while the attending 
surgeons have thus far been unable to discover any 
indication of it whatsoever. 'This inflammation,' 
the doctor continued, 'is nothing unusual in cases 
where patients have become greatly debilitated. I have 
seen it many times in cases of gunshot wounds.' 

" ' Then, it is not pyaemia, doctor?' 

"'Oh, no.' 

'"Is it an indication of fever, typhoid or other- 
wise?' 

" ' Not at all, sir. It is an aflecti®n which need not 
cause the slightest alarm.' " 

The 19 th showed an encouraging improvement in 
the President. The official bulletins for the day were 
hopeful in tone. 

A letter from Washington, written on the night of 
the 19th, said : 

" There was more speculation about the streets to* 



606 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

night than last night at the same hours. Those who 
crowded about the bulletins did not appear to be fully 
satisfied with the situation. From unofficial sources, 
however, it is learned that this public apprehension is 
unfounded. They assert at the Executive Mansion 
that the President has been doing well all day and is 
still improving. No sickness is apparent, and the 
glandular inflammation has gone down somewhat and 
gives no uneasiness to the physicians. The President, 
however, is feeling a little gloomy. The near approach 
of Saturday is dreaded by him, it is said. It is on that 
day, by a sort of strange fatality, that all his bad turns 
have occurred. He has noticed this and grown some- 
what morbid over the idea that Saturday is his unlucky 
day. He thinks if he can pull through Sunday without 
any change for the worse, if he can only wake up on 
Monday morning feeling better than on to-day, he 
believes he will get well. This notion of an unlucky 
day has worked upon his mind to such an extent that 
it is feared that any slight backset to-morrow will 
bring about a strong reaction. There is curiously 
enough a similar sentiment among the public to-night. 
If he can only pull through his unlucky day, it is said 
on every hand, the President and the people may then 
take fresh courage.*' 

That the President's fear of a bad Saturday was not 
unreal, was proved by the fact that on the 20th of 
August he began to show symptoms of a relapse. 
These symptoms increased, and Sunday, August 21st, 
was a day of anxiety and gloom at the White House. 

Slight indications of delirium manifested themselves 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 607 

at this time, but the" physicians attributed this to 
extreme weakness, and not to any decided mental 
disturbance, and their view was subsequently borne 
out by an improved mental condition on the part of 
the patient. Writing on the 22d of August, The Times 
correspondent said : 

" The glandular swelling is pronounced to-day about 
the same as it was yesterday, but it is said to give less 
pain and annoyance. Dr. Boynton is of the opinion 
that it is reduced somewhat, though he says not ma- 
terially, and that if suppuration should commence now 
it would be less dangerous than on yesterday. It is 
expected that if suppuration sets in it will be to-morrow 
or Wednesday. It may probably be delayed still an- 
other day. When its prevention is no longer possible 
in the opinion of the surgeons, the pus will be liberated 
b}'' an incision. This will be the most severe test the 
patient will have undergone during the last two weeks. 
It has been a steady fight between the coming on of 
this crisis and the toning up of the President's 
stomach. Dr. Boynton, when asked Mdiat the result 
would probably be of such an incision in the neck, re- 
plied that it was impossible to tell what that end would 
be ; that it would be possible for the inflammation to 
extend to the interior of the ear and destroy that organ, 
and that it might seriously affect the bones of the face 
in the vicinity of the irritation, and further than this, 
there were other possibilities which it was needless to 
suggest. Dr. Bliss gives it as his opinion to-day that 
they have the swelling of the face pretty well in hand, 
and don't anticipate any serious results from it. He 



608 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

thinks that it will suppurate to-morrow or day after. 
Dr. Bliss admits that the only danger appearing at 
present is that the President may die of exhaustion 
after the operation, in case the stomach can't be made 
strong enough to counteract the natural drain by the 
double suppuration of the wound and the proposed 
incisions of the neck. He thinks, however, that the 
President's stomach has greatly improved in the last 
twelve hours, and that he will be able to master the 
difficulties as they severally appear. He is as confident 
as ever that the President will pull through, notwith- 
standing all the complications of the case. Dr. Bliss 
says that while the case is quite critical and serious, 
he has seen a great many cases equally as serious dur- 
ing the war, where men lay for months upon their 
backs with just such complications, and have yet in 
the end recovered. He feels by no means discouraged, 
and believes that the President has still a good 
foundation for the hope which he expresses for his 
recovery." 

A despatch sent by Captain Henry, to the friends 
of the President in Ohio, on the 20th of August, con- 
tains many interesting details of this period of his 
sickness, and is as follows : 

" The improvement of the President has been more 
marked the past twenty-four hours, especially the tone 
of the stomach has improved, and this gives strength. 
Dr. Boynton has watched this feature of the case with 
the greatest care. The President has felt no sign of 
hunger for weeks until a trifle to-day. Even the wind 
has been favorable. During the past two days it has 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 609 

not blown from the Kid well bottoms, but has come 
fresh and bracing from the north. Mrs. Garfield has 
been not only hopeful and cheerful during the day, 
but appeared happy. I told her of little Abe and Irve 
at Lawnfield, some things they said about ' papa's ill- 
ness.' I told her of their little sunbrowned hands and 
faces. The brave, wotnanly heart, that had stood the 
terrible strain for weeks, melted to think of her dear 
little boys at home, and papa and mamma away from 
home, but longing to be there. For three or four 
weeks previous to last Monday the President often 
spoke of liotne. He longed to be at his Law^nfield 
home; to be in Cleveland; to walk down Superior 
street, meeting and greeting old friends. He wanted 
to see Iliiam. and Solon, and cousin Henry Boynton, 
and some of Aunt Alpha's Indian bread again, and 
pick wintergreen.s on the hill. He wanted to see Burke 
and Hany, Mary and Hettie, and a score of others. 
He wanted to be in the shade of the maples at Captain 
Henry's farm. He longed to be in Ohio, as he ex- 
pressed it, 'On the old sod once more.' Thousands 
upon thousands of familiar friends would appear before 
him as he lay on his bed of pain. On Monday, how- 
ever, the pulse went up to 130, a feeble flutter. Since 
then he has been too weak to think much about old 
times, scenes and faces. 

" While he is decidedly better than a few days ago, 
he is feeble and wasted. Probably sixty pounds of 
flesh have gone in seven weeks. The bullet-hole was 
eleven and three-quarters inches deep, by actual meas- 
urement, this morning as they washed it out. His 

39 



610 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

strength is nearly wasted, but the little left has been 
increasing slowly and hopefully during the past two 
days. If he continues to improve I shall not consider 
him out of danger for some time. To-day is the forty- 
ninth since he was shot He is forty-nine years old. 
I was troubled yesterday about to-day on account of 
the coincidence of these numerals. A score or more 
of his old friends will understand why. Twenty-five 
years ago he often said that he expected to die at 
thirty-three, the age of his father when he died. He 
passed thirty-three, and then thought he would die at 
forty-two, the number of his regiment. His mind, 
however, to-day was too weary to be troubled about 
the application of facts and numerals. His faculties, 
however, are quite active. When awake he is quick 
to see what is going on in the room. The grip of his 
band is firm. He can hold a glass of water in his 
hand and carry it to his mouth without trembling. 
His voice has become natural since Monday. The 
pulse is firm, and his eyes brighter and more natural 
in expression." 

The condition of the President on Tuesday, August 
23d, was thus summed up by the correspondent we 
have so often quoted : 

" The President has had a rather better day than 
was generally anticipated. The condition of the Presi- 
dent was, it is true, a subject of grave anxiety to his 
surgeons, to his attendants, and to Mrs. Garfield, but 
not more so than it was yesterday, and not so much as 
on Sunday. On Sunday afternoon there was really 
greater reason for discouragement than at any time 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 611 

since then, because there seemed then to be only a 
very fiiint hope that the patient's demoralized stomach 
could be brought to resume its functions. As soon as 
the President began to swallow food again, his condition, 
to that extent at least, became more hopeful. Without 
adequate nourishment death from exhaustion seemed 
inevitable, while with proper nourishment he might 
live. In a qualified sense, therefore, he was better this 
morning than he was Sunday night, although his 
general condition in the interval had not materially 
changed. He passed a quiet morning, taking nourish- 
ment frequently in the shape of beef juice, peptonized 
milk, and milk porridge, with an enema every five or 
six hours. Up to noon he had swallowed sixteen or 
seventeen ounces of liquid food, but there had been 
no indication of an increase in his strength, with the 
exception of a stronger and slightly improved pulse. 
The glandular swelling remained hard, and showed 
no change in size or appearance, and the amount of 
iDUcus secreted in the back part of the mouth was 
about the same as yesterday." 

On the 24th of August the condition of the President 
had not materially changed. The correspondent of 
The Times wrote : 

" The President began to-day very much as be began 
yesterday, without exhibiting any material change. 
From all accounts, however, it appeared that he passed a 
more comfortable night last night than the one immedi- 
ately preceding it. There was no particular significance 
in the figures of the bulletin, the pulse remaining at 100, 
and the temperature somewhat above the normal, but 



612 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



these figures were somewhat less discouraging than 
those of the previous morning. lie had awakened 
several times in the night, and twice had asked for and 
was given food in small quantities, which he retained. 
It must not be understood that because the President 
asks for nourishment he has any natural hankering 
therefor, but it is rather from his desire to please the 
physicians and because he is fully aware of the im- 
portance of taking sufficient nourishment to keep him- 
self up. It is pure pluck. At stated intervals he asks 
for food as if he were manfiiiiiio; his own case, and was 
calculating the time which should elaps(^ betwi^^'u tlie 
administration of nourishment and the capacity of his 
stomach to retain another dose. He complains, in fact, 
that his taste is all gone, and that he can scarcely tell 
the difference between one species of food and another. 
From this it must appear that the relish which is men- 
tioned by his physicians is yet intangible. Last night 
was characterized by less indication of trouble from 
the mucus secretions in the throat and less difficulty in 
expelling the phlegm which has troubled him during 
the last few days. The one thing most important, the 
swelling of the parotid gland, remained stationary 
during the night, but about noon to-day there was a 
decided change. This change forms one of the most 
conspicuous features of to-day's history of the case. 

'• This forenoon the gland began to show symptoms 
of suppuration for the first time. Instead of boir.g 
hard to the touch, it exhibited evidences of coming 
softness, and upon this a consultation of the doctors 
was held, and it was decided that it would be more 



ASSASSINATION OP PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 613 

judicious to assist suppuration by an immediate in- 
sisioti than risk the driving of the pus out by some 
other channels. Some fear was expressed that it 
mijj^ht take the direction of the ear. The noon bul- 
letin irave no intimation of the prospective suppuration, 
but immediately after the issuance thereof an incision 
was made below and a little forward of the right ear, 
where the softening was manifest. There was no 
anaesthetic administered, and the patient is reported 
to liave borne the operation very well, considering his 
low condition. There was an antiseptic spray of car- 
bolic acid used upon the surface, and beyond the 
climbing of the pulse to 115, there were no perceptibly 
bad results from the cutting. The pulse shortly after 
fell back again to about 104 or 105. It is stated, un- 
officially, that the effect upon the President was less 
marked than that of any other of the several opera- 
tions which have been performed. This, however, is 
proltabiy due to the fact that the President is now in 
such a weak and emaciated condition that he is 
scarcely conscious of what is taking place. His abil- 
ity to bear pain is not to be measured by the ordinary 
indications. Some days ago, as an example, when the 
investigation was made with the wound that resulted 
in the discovery of its depth of twelve and a-half 
inches, the President was actually in ignorance of the 
whole operation. The operation to-day was performed 
by Dr. Hamilton, at the request of the President. 
Contrary to the expectations of the doctors, but very 
little pus followed the operation, not more, it is said, 
than a couple of drops the size of common peas. It 



614 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

is not thought necessary to put a drainage tube in, 
inasmuch as pressure on the outer surface at any time 
will force from the incision any accumulation of pus. 
At three o'clock in the afternoon it was found that 
the pulse had dropped to 104, at which it had stood 
in the noon bulletin, and that the President was 
suffering no serious inconvenience from the recent 
operation. 

" The President is very anxious to be removed from 
the White House. He wants to go down the river or 
to Mentor. It is almost pitiable to contemplate him in 
his helpless state begging to be taken away. The 
physicians would take him in a minute if he could 
stand it. As it is they are seriously contemplating r. 
removal as a last resort. The food which he takes 
does not build him up, and if he can only be got away 
a change of air may be beneficial. So serious has the 
matter become that, this afternoon, Dr. Agnew was 
telegraphed to attend an immediate consultation on the 
subject. Dr. Agnew telegraphed in reply that he would 
leave at once, and would like to meet the other surgeons 
upon his arrival." 

The consultation was held at ten o'clock, and re- 
sulted in a decision not to remove the President, the 
surgeons not deeming him strong enough to bear the 
fatigue of removal. Nevertheless, the necessity for 
removal to a more bracing atmosphere was recognized, 
and it was resolved to make the attempt at the earlicfct 
'possible moment. 

On the 25th signs of a new relapse began to 
manifest themselves, and on the 26th the patieir"^ 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 615 

grew steadily worse, until the question of life or 
death seemed to hang upon the occurrences of a few 
hours. 

A letter from Washington, written on the 26th of 
August, said : 

" This has been the saddest day of the many sad 
days since the one exciting event of the 2d of July. 
Had the morning bulletin announced the death of the 
President the public depression and gloom could scarcely 
have been greater. The alarm was taken up at break 
of day, and the national capital has been wrought up 
to fever heat. From the first intelligence received 
from the Executive Mansion the day has been one un- 
broken era of rumors, fears, alarms and feverish ex- 
citement. 

" The report was early circulated that the Presiden-t 
was actually dead, and some expected the official an-, 
nouncement to be made to that effect. When the 
bulletin came, however, it showed about as sati.^ftictory 
a state of affairs as prevailed last night. 

"In the face of the discouraiiin"' bulletins and other 
information, the doctors kept a stiff upper lip and suc- 
ceeded in rallying the hopes of the panic-stricken occu- « 
pants of the White House. Dr. Bliss came out of the 
surgeons' room about 9.30 this morning and telephoned 
his wife that the President was a little better than last 
night. In reply to interrogations he said that the 
President's pulse this morning was less frequent and 
that the parotid swelling had broken into the right ear 
and was discharging through that orifice. The patient's 
mind was clear and he conversed rationally with the 



616 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

surgeons about the condition of the inflamed gland. 
He partook of f njd, which seemed to be grateful to him, 
and his general condition appeared to be a little im- 
proved. The doctor expressed himself as hopeful that 
the swollen gland would be relieved by the discharge 
through the ear, and that he would pull through the 
day without much change. 

"All the members of the Cabinet were at the White 
House unusually early to-day. Most of them were 
accompanied by their wives, and remained in the private 
part of the house off and on during the day. None of 
them were very hopeful, though towards noon' they 
expressed themselves as having regained some confi- 
dence since the early part of tlie day. This confidence 
was not of long duration. Increasing dangerous 
symptoms of tiie afternoon brought consternation to 
those who were catching at straws. The gathering at 
the White House for the noon bulletin was unusually 
large. The talking in the private secretary's room 
went on in undertones. The crowd got impatient as 
the bulletin was delayed for some minutes. As usual 
there werv.- those on hand to say that the delay was 
the sign of a bad bulletin. This impression was strength- 
ened by the recollection that usually it is known before- 
hand what the general character of the medical an- 
nouncement will be, and that to-day there was not the 
slightest thing known about it before its promulgation. 
There was a rapid break for down-stairs with the 
bulletins as they were distributed. Sergeant Dinsmore 
has to stand at the stairs and check the stampede of 
the bulletin-holders to prevent too much noise being 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 617 

made in the hurry to get out of the house with the 
bulletins. The bulletin was depressing, as had been 
anticipated. The pulse had gone up ten beats snice 
morning. The temperature had gone up nearly a 
tenth, Tnd there was no improvement in the respira- 
tion This had the effect to add to the discouragement 
everywhere. It was the first really bad bulletin that 
the doctors have issued, and it showed that the doctors 
themselves were beginning to weaken in confidence. It 
being the first bulletin that carried with it alarm on its 
face°the depression was more widespread than if there 
had' been similar bulletins previously. The words 
'Nevertheless we regard his condition as critical 
looked ominous. It looked as if the President can- 
not recover and that his death is only a question ot 
time The doctors do not give any tangible hope, but 
they do not by any means say that they give the 

patient up. ^ ^ i c 

"As your correspondent passed through the gates ol 
the White House grounds this evening and elbowed his 
way through the surging mass of humanity that stood 
patiently waiting the latest intelligence from the sick 
chamber, he was suddenly grasped as if by a vise 
Turning, he saw a broad-shouldered, roughly-dressed 
fellow, whose ill-appearance was somewhat redeemed 
by a frank, open countenance. 

« ' Can't you give me some news from the President 
to carry to my folks down in Virginia? I'm going 
home on the evening train, and I'd like something en- 
couraging to tell the boys.' 

" He was told that the President was actually hover- 



G18 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

ing over the brink of the grave and might not possibl}? 
live out the night. 

" ' Dash it ! ' he said, bringing the full weight of his 
heavy hand on the correspondent's shoulder, while his 
honest eyes filled with tears. ' I didn't vote for Gar- 
field. I didn't want to see him President and did all 
I could to defeat him, but do you know, sir,' and his 
voice trembled with emotion, ' I'd give my right arm 
at this minute for the satisfaction of knowing he would 
ultimately recover. I'm a Virginian and a Democrat 
to the core, but in this hour of his affliction I'm a true- 
blue Garfield man, and I mean it when I say I would 
make any sacrifice short of death to restore that noble 
fellow to life again.' 

" There was nothing in the incident bevond what is 
here written, but it is interesting as showing the uni- 
versal afiection for and sympathy w^ith Garfield which 
pervades all classes, be their religion or politics the 
very antipodes of his." 

Saturday, August 27th — the dreaded Saturday — 
came with the most alarming signs. 

" It appears," says the correspondent of The Times, 
"that the doctors noticed that a startling change had 
occurred in the patient at about five oclock. They 
saw upon examination that his pulse had suddenly 
become very feeble and fluttering, while the breath 
came in quick, sharp, successive gasps. Springing at 
once to the rescue, the surgeons in the adjeining room 
were hastily called, and the first battle of the day 
began in the very presence of death. There was a 
choking in the throat, produced by the mucus gather- 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. G19 

ing, the exhaustion of the patient being such that he 
could not throw it off. Tliis was accompanied by a 
frightful pulse, which was of a very feeble character. 
There was a clutching at the bed clothes and incohe- 
rent words, which indicated an alarming crisis. The 
doctors grappled with the case, and, by assisting to 
clear the throat with brandy and administering the 
same stimuUmt by enemata, succeeded in quieting the 
patient; but the effort appeared to take away what 
little vitality was left, and the pulse grew quicker and 
more feeble, and the respiration rose to an alarming 
height. It seemed for a moment that immediate death 
was threatened. Consternation followed among the 
doctors and communicated itself to the attendants. 
Some of these ran for Mrs. Garfield, who had thrown 
herself on her couch in the next room, undressed and 
worn-out by the nights and days of weary watching. 
She sprang to her feet as if by instinct, and was at 
the bedside in a moment." 

The efforts of the physicians to rally the President 
were successful, and during the day he managed to 
regain something of his lost strength. But the case 
was still desperate in the extreme, and the sufferer's 
life continued to hang by a thread. 

" The President," said Tlte Times' correspondent, 
writing on the same day, " realizes that he is in an 
extremely critical condition, but does not give up by 
any means. Mrs. Garfield is the only member of his 
family allowed to see the President. Neither Harry 
nor James nor Miss Mollie are allowed in the room. 
They are all at the house, however. As Private Sec- 



620 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

retary Brown puts it: *The case has not yet reached 
that point where it is necessary lor the children to see 
the President' Mr. Brown saw the President for the 
hist time two weeks a";o. To-day none but Mrs. Gar- 
field, the physicia^ns, and the regular attendants, Gen- 
eral Swaim, Colonel Rockwell, Dr. Boynton, and Mrs. 
Edson have been with him. Captain Henry, and 
Joseph Rudolph, the President's brother-in-law, arrived 
to-night on the same train from Ohio. They made a 
quick trip, having been summoned by telegraph last 
night. The two elder boys will not be brought from 
Mentor, at least until after the President's death. 
Mrs. Garfield has requested this when the question 
was broached to her. It would do no good, and only 
add to her troubles by making it more distressing even 
than at present. She has now bravely made up her 
mind to endure the worst that fate has in store for her. 
The doctors broke the news to her last night as gently 
as possible, but her experience of the morning has 
made the terrible reality seem nearer. She is too 
sensible a woman to place much faith upon the tempo- 
rary rally of this afternoon, and the doctors cautioned 
her against entertaining too much confidence in any 
temporary favorable symptoms. These fluctuations 
were anticipated, and could not be regarded as any 
decided encouragement. Notwithstanding these cau- 
tionary words, hope was again revived in a good many 
breasts late in the day, based on the more favorable 
reports that the President might even yet pull through 
in safety. Colonel Rockwell and General Swaim 
actively distributed words of comfort to the des- 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT -GARFIELD. 621 

pondent, and did much to restore a feeling of encour- 
agement. 

" Reports from the surgeons' room at nine o'clock 
to-night were to the effect that there had been no par- 
ticular change in the President's condition, but that 
his symptoms continued to show slight improvement. 
At about that hour the President said to Mrs. Garfield, 
who was sitting by his bedside, that he would like a 
piece of milk toast. She replied that if the surgeons 
had no objections she would get it for him. Dr. Bliss, 
upon being consulted, said it would do no harm if the 
condition of the President's parotid gland would allow 
him to move his jaws enough to eat it. Mrs. Gar- 
field thereupon prepared the toast carefully herself, 
and the patient ate with apparent relish and enjoy- 
ment a piece about half as large as a man's hand, 
moving his jaws with less difficulty than was antici- 
pated. This taking of solid food for the first time 
in about two weeks is regarded by the President's 
attendants as a favorable indication, and has strength- 
ened a little more the hope expressed this afternoon 
by Colonel Rockwell and General Swaim." 

We have referred to the sympathy manifested for 
the wounded President by the sovereigns of the old 
world, and especially by the Queen of England. On 
the 27th the following despatch was received at the 
State Department at Washington : 

" London, August 27. 
"Blaine, Secretary, Washington : 

"I have just received from her Majesty the Queen 
at Balmoral a telegram in these words : ' I am most 



622 JAMES A. GARHfLT). 

deeply grieved at the sad nev^s of the last few days, 
and would wish my deep sympathy to be conveyed to 
Mrs. Garfield.' " Lowell, Minister." 

To this Secretary Blaine sent the following reply : 

" Department of State, Washington, August 27. 
" Lowell, Minister, London : 

"I have submitted to Mrs. Garfield your telegram 
conveying the kindly message from her Majesty the 
Queen. Mrs. Garfield is constantly by her husband's 
bedside and does not give up all hope of his recovery. 
Pier request is that you will return to the Queen her 
most sincere thanks and express her heartfelt apprecia- 
tion of the constant interest and tender sympathy 
shown b}^ her Majesty toward the President and his 
family in their deep grief and most painful suspense. 

" Blaine, Secretary." 

The improvement in the President's condition con- 
tinued throughout Sunday, the 28th of August. The 
incidents of the day are thus summed up by the corre- 
spondent of the New York World : 

"At noon the patient's condition was represented to 
be one of continued improvement. At intervals of two 
hours nourishment by the mouth in the form of beef 
tea and milk gruel, prepared by Mrs. Garfield's hands, 
has been administered to the President with good effect. 
Soon after noon he was given a little chicken broth 
and appeared to enjoy it. Secretary Hunt arrived at 
12.30 o'clock, and buried himself in the Cabinet-room. 
A little before one o'clock Dr. Hamilton showed him- 
self for a moment. He was asked for his opinion. He 
answered without hesitation : ' We have passed the 
breakers and are now afloat.' A few moments later 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. G23 

Dr. Agnew, in response to a similar question, said : 
' The President has more than an even chance for re- 
covery.' The second bulletin was issued at one p. m. 
It was regarded as exceedingly favorable. At 1.15 p. m. 
Secretary Blaine and Postmaster-General James arrived 
together in the latter's carriage. They both looked 
jubilant, and expressed themselves enthusiastically in 
regard to the turn aflfjiirs had taken. 

"At two o'clock the President was sleeping quietly, 
and General Swaim and Colonel Rockwell, who were 
watching with him, pronounced his sleep as more 
natural than any which he had enjoyed for several 
days. Drs. Bliss, Hamilton, Agnew and Reyburn were 
in the Cabinet-room, and the face of each was radiant 
with hope. Dr. Bliss looked especially happy. He 
has been called an optimist because, from the day when 
the President was shot until Friday last, he obstinately 
maintained his view that the patient would recover. 
On Friday noon, for the first time, he lost hope, and 
publicly announced that he feared for the President's 
life. The remarkable change which has taken place 
in the sufferer's condition since yesterday at noon has 
confirmed all the former opinions of Dr. Bliss, and from 
a thoroughly despondent man he has become once more 
an enthusiastic prophet of good to come. His eyes 
fairly beamed with joy as the afternoon wore away 
and no further dangerous symptoms appeared. Dr. 
Hamilton, too, showed in his face that with every suc- 
ceeding hour liis hopes grew higher and higher. Private 
Secretary Brown flitted in and out of the Cabinet-room, 
and his general smile broadened after every consulta- 



624 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

tion with the surgeons. This is the first Sunday in 
many weeks that the eccupants of the White House 
have shown by their actions and words, that they have 
real grounds for hope of the recovery of the President. 
The patient awoke soon after two o'clock. Mrs. Gar- 
field was at his side, and Drs. Bliss and Hamilton were 
sitting in the room. His mind was perfectly clear, and 
he recognized his heroic wife with a smile and the 
cheering words, ' I feel better and stronger.' Liquid 
nourishment was given to him, and the stomach re- 
tained it without the least difficulty. 

"After he had partaken of this he turned to Dr. 
Bliss, and, fixing his eyes upon him in a wistful gaze, 
said, ' I wonder if I could see Mollie ? ' Dr. Bliss, 
thinking that in the apparently fine condition of his 
patient the sight of his daughter could do him no harm 
and might do him good, said that he had no objections, 
and Miss Mollie was sent for. The brave little girl, 
who has shown a heroism almost equal to her mother's 
in the trying ordeal of the last eight weeks, entered 
the sick-chamber, from which she has been excluded 
for several days. She approached her father quietly, 
and, stooping over the bed, kissed him very softly. 

" ' How is my little girl to-day ? ' asked the Presi- 
dent. 

" 'I am so happy, papa,' said Miss Mollie. ' Do you 
feel happy?' 

" ' I feel much better,' was the answer of General 
Garfield. This was all that passed between father and 
daughter. Dr. Bliss motioned to Miss Mollie, and she 
slipped quietly from the room. Young James Garfield 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 625 

was then allowed to enter. He simply grasped the 
hand of his father, and passed from the sick-chamber 
with the tears streaming down his cheeks. It had 
been intended to allow Harry also to see his father, 
but the interviews with Mollie and James had evi- 
dently had a bad effect upon the President, and Dr. 
Bliss gave orders that no new faces should be shown to 
the sufferer." 

On the 29th of August the improvement in the 
President continued, as was shown by the official bul- 
letins. 

TJie Times correspondent wrote, on the same day : 
" At the morning dressing of the President's wounds 
the parotid swelling was found to have diminished 
sensibly in size since yesterday morning. There had 
been a plentiful discharge of pus during the night from 
the three openings. Another yellow spot was dis- 
covered on the side of the face this morning, which, 
when pricked, permitted a free discharge of pus from 
another pus pocket. Dr. Boynton, who was in the 
sick-room the greater part of last night, says the Presi^ 
dent passed a good night, sleeping most of the time. 
His sleep was more natural than that of any night 
during the past week. During the intervals of wake- 
fulness his mind was pretty clear. Once, about two 
A.M., when awake and while taking some nourishment, 
he remarked to Dr. Boynton, evidently referring to his 
several relapses : ' I wonder how many more stations 
I will have to stop at ! ' The President, Dr. Boynton 
said, looked better and felt better this morninj?." 

On the 30th the President continued to hold his own, 

40 



626 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

and also made a substantial gain. Said the correspon- 
dent of the New York Tribtuie : " The President has 
been gaining to-day; a day's progress has been made in 
the healins: of the wound, and in the softening and 
subsidence of the swollen cheek. No one should ex- 
pect an increase of physical strength at this stage of 
the case. His stomach has been performing its func- 
tions in a satisfactory manner, and no new weakness 
or disorder has manifested itself. The brain retains its 
normal clearness. A new incision was made this morn- 
ing into the inflammation upon the parotid gland, and 
the matter discharged from it was satisfactory, both in 
character and quantity. Renewed anxiety was created 
by the rise in the fever symptoms, as they were disclosed 
by the morning and noon bulletins, but the President's 
pliysicians asserted without reserve that anxiety was un- 
necessary and that all was going well. They said that 
the fluctuations were necessary accompaniments of pro- 
gress in disorders of this kind and that a speedy subsi- 
dence was to be expected. The evening bulletin proved 
to be a fulfilment of their predictions. The pulse, which 
had reached 116 at noon, had subsided to 110, while 
the temperature and respiration compared favorably 
with evenings in the recent past which had been 
accounted good evenings. All seems to be going well 
with the President, and the most favorable of the pre- 
dictions which have been made in regard to him since 
he was shot may be repeated to-night with entire safety. 
"At nine o'clock this evening Dr. Bliss came out of the 
sick-room, where he had been for a few moments after 
his return from his evening ride. 






ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 627 

"*How is your patient to-night, Doctor?' was the 
first inquiry addressed to him. 

" * He has passed a better day than yesterday, in spite 
of the intense heat.' 

Have you varied the treatment any to-day ? ' 
No, except that we have resumed stimuLating en- 
emata ; we have been obliged to do this. The effect has 
been seen to-day in the improved pulse and tempera- 
ture. He has to be stimulated. We find these en- 
cmata bring him up and make him comfortable, and 
give volume to his pulse. We have tried four or five 
times to discontinue them, but have as often been com- 
pelled to resume them.' 

" ' How long will it be necessary to administer 

them ? ' 

" ' For four or five days, I should say, at the least. 
There can be no very marked improvement in his con- 
dition within that period.' 

" ' How is the glandular difficulty to-night?' 

"'The swelling has lessened, and is becoming soft. 
The discharge is liberal and the pus is of an improved 
character. There will probably be some sloughing of 
the cellular tissues.' 

" ' Is such a sloughing what was feared so much a 
few days ago?' 

" ^ No; this is quite a different affair. The sloughing 
of the cellular tissues of the parotid gland means simply 
that the walls between the cells will slough and fall 
I away and be expelled as pus. This will not involve 
any destruction of cuticle and will not leave a scar, but 
the effect will be to reduce the swelling immediately 



628 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

and i"^lieve the pressure which has given so much 
trouble. We want just such a sloughing as this prom- 
ises to be. There has been already, since the new 
incision which I made this morning., a very free dis- 
charge of pus and much relief has been afforded. The 
skin, too, looks very much better, the dark purple 
appearance having passed away.' 

"'Is there any improvement in the appetite?' 

"'Well, it is hardly correct to speak of an appetite. 
He seems to take his food with some relish. We give 
it every two hours, and about in the same quantities 
as yesterday. Sometimes he expresses a desire for 
some particular article of food, as in the case of the 
milk toast, but we give him about what we think he 
can assimilate and no more. To-day we made the 
intervals between the administrations of his food a 
little longer, not because his stomach rebelled, but 
because there were certain indications that he did not 
take it with relish, and we deemed it advisable to create 
a relish by a little enforced abstinence, besides giving 
the stomach a little rest.' 

"'Is there any improvement in the President's phys- 
ical strength?' 

" ' That question is difficult to answer so as to be 
perfectly understood. In one sense, no; in another, 
yes. There is probably no increased muscular strength, 
such as ability to lift his head or move his limbs, but 
there is an improvement not sensible by such tests, 
which is very important after all. When the patient 
is in the subsiding stage of a malady, he moves into 
one of repair and greater ease. His condition is restful, 
and to that^extent he is gaining strength.'" 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GAKFIELD 629 

On the 31st of August the President maintained the 
vantage ground he had gained, and on the 10th of 
September his condition was still farther improved. 

The correspondent of the New York Worlds writing 
on* the 1st of September, thus describes the daily scenes 
about the White House : 

"So much has been written about the djiilj life at the 
White House that almost everybody is more or less 
familiar with the routine of affairs there. The Presi- 
dent lies in a room in the centre of what is known as 
the family end of the mansion, and it is no more pos- 
sible for an outsider to approach that room than for 
him to get at Guiteau in his strong and well-guarded 
prison. Hence the reports that have from time to time 
appeared of correspondents having seen the President 
may be set down as worthless. The President's own 
sons have not seen him for some time ; his Private 
Secretary does not see him, and the members of the 
Cabinet are not more fortunate. The extreme verge 
to which privileged persons, not members of the house- 
hold, can go, is to the Cabinet-room, and another room 
and a corridor must be passed before the President's 
room can be reached. But particulars of what occurs 
in the patient's room are reported by the physicians 
and the attendants, so that a very f^iir idea may be 
obtained of what life is inside the private part of the 
house. Except tlie hall and the East room — the state 
reception room — the whole of the first floor of tiie house 
is given up to the private uses of the family. The 
second and top story is divided into two parts, one the 
business end, the other the family end of the White 



630 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

House. The Cabinet-room is in the centre of the 
building, between these two ends. From the hall down- 
stairs there are two stairways, one leading to the apart- 
ments of the Private Secretary, the other to those of 
the family. Thus, except in the hall down-stairs, the 
family, the Cabinet members and the physicians and 
attendants do not come in contact with the public, 
except when for business or other purposes they have 
occasion to visit the Private Secretary's room. General 
James drops into Mr. Brown's room for a chat nearly 
every evening, and the ' Doctor of the Cabinet,' as the 
Attorney General is called, is also a frequent visitor. 

" The routine of the White House is monotonous 
in the extreme. The scenes are every day the same, 
the incidents do not vary, the same questions are 
asked and the same answers are given a thousand 
times a day. Outside the gate a soldier paces up 
and down a straight line from the gate to the curb- 
ing. The only difference in him is that sometimes 
he carries a sabre, sometimes a musket ; sometimes 
his uniform is gay, wdth red trimming, and sometimes 
it is bare of that ornament. He always wears a cork 
helmet, and he always walks in the same imperturbable 
manner before the line of people idly staring in at 
the gate, eagerly waiting for the next bulletin. 
Sometimes, late at night, the soldier leans against 
the post, and chats with the stragglers who keep up 
the vigil until far into the night. Inside the gate 
stands a policeman, whose duty it is to inspect the 
passes of those entering the gate. On the lawn, to 
the left of the drive, the tents of the military detailed 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 631 

to guard the White House were pitched. They have 
been removed to the rear yard of the mansion, two 
hundred yards beyond the crown of the slope that 
begins on a Une with the house itself and rises grad- 
ually back, finally receding into the Potomac marshes, 
where the tall weeds grow and malaria is bred by the 
hot sun. In that part of the slope which forms the 
rear of the White House grounds, the grass and flower- 
beds are kept fresh and beautiful by nmcli watering, 
but elsewhere the grass is dry and and dusty ; even the 
leaves of the trees in front of the mansion have turned 
prematurely dry, and are dropping to the ground as 
though smitten by frost. 

" In the White Flouse portico a crowd can gener- 
ally be found. Within the doors two attendants keep 
watch day and night. In the morning, just before the 
issuing of the first bulletin, the crowd gathers, num- 
bering frequently as many as a hundred. They can 
go no farther than the hall, all the doors beyond that 
being closed. Even persons having passes to Secre- 
tary Brown's room are not allowed to go up-stairs 
while the bulletins are being issued. The people who 
come here are mostly members of the press, but a 
large number of messengers are sent from the various 
departments and from the business houses in the city. 
Others come to get for their own personal satisfaction 
the latest news about the patient. Yesterday an 
urchin, with tattered clothes and hat and bare feet, sat 
in the front window of the house of the President of 
the United States, while another, a still smaller one, 
stood on the^ floor beneath, and, with as much intent- 



632 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

ness as one of the President's surgeons would display 
in making an incision into the glandular swelling, en- 
deavored, by means of a pocket-knife, to extract a 
splinter from the sole of liis bare-footed comrade, who 
bore the painful operation as stoically as the President 
bears the knife. In addition to the usual loungers 
about the entrance, there is usutdly to be found there 
a doctor's buggy, a saddle horse or two, hitched to the 
railing of the portico, and the carriage of some promi- 
nent official. The President's carriage is driven up 
once or twice a day, and the intensely black driver in- 
quires from his box if any one wishes to go out for an 
airing. When he came up this afternoon he asked how 
t^e President was, and on being told the good news, 
chuckled and said : 'Now, what do he mean by dat? 
Do he 'spec we got nuffin' to do but to keep on gettin' 
'larmed about him ? I s'pose he'll be ridin' behind dese 
yare bays 'fo' long.' And laughing all over, the coal- 
black Jehu cracked his whip and drove down the 
avenue. 

"After the morning bulletin is issued. Secretary 
Brown's rooms are opened to those having passes, and 
then the morning dressing of the President takes 
place. Then the family and the attendants break- 
fast. As the time approaches for issuing the noon 
bulletin, one or two members of the Cabinet generally 
come in and go up-stairs by the private ^ay. Secre- 
tary Lincoln is generally on hand at this hour, and on 
days when exciting news is expected all the Cabinet 
members come in. The bulletin is issued, the crowd 
disperses, and Secretary Brown's room is again opened. 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 633 

The newspaper men hang listlessly around the por- 
tico, and wait for the physicians to emerge. The after- 
noon wears away, and the visitors come in slowly 
until ahout half-past five o'clock, when the crowd 
again assembles in Secretary Brown's room. The 
physicians come in for their evening consultation, and 
the bulletin is issued. Then a physician or an attend- 
ant visits Secretary Brown's room, and the sick-room 
story is told. It is generally bare of incident, and a 
reporter of those peculiar papers which live upon sen- 
sations has hard work to get even so slender a fact as 
that on which peculiar sensations are usually based. 
Since the President has begun to mend, there have 
been many comical incidents of the sick room related 
not serviceable for the papers. Generally all that is 
said is that the President is cheerful, that Mrs. Garfield 
is as plucky as ever, and that everything is going 
well. The unpleasant incidents do not often reach the 
ears of the public, and it is just as well that they do 
not. An occasional tale of disagreeable bickering finds 
its way ou,tside. After the last sudden rise of fever 
it was said in some quarters that a mistake had been 
made in making the last incision in the neck of the 
President, and that an awkward cut had severed 
a blood-vessel, wliich it took some time and much 
trouble to close so as to stop the bleeding. This may 
or may not have been true, but the pulse certainly 
ran up very fast yesterday, and subsided as suddenly. 
Another incident of the sick-room tells its own pathetic 
story. The President, who has borne everything so 
bravely, is said to have exclaimed, after some painful 



634 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

operation was finished, ^After all, there is liberty in 
being let alone!' It has all along been said that 
the President's magnificent physique has alone brought 
him through this terrible strain. No doubt this is 
largely true, but it can hardly be said that the Presi- 
dent was in perfect condition when he was shot. He 
had just passed through a severe political campaign, 
and was then in the midst of unusual and unhappy 
cares in his official position. Add to these ills the 
anxiety he must have constantly felt over his wife's 
severe and protracted illness, and it will be seen that 
the President was not in the best condition to stand a 
desperate wound. That he has yet much to fight 
against is very certain, and it is equally certain that 
there is very little strength left with which to make 
the fight. 

"After the evening dressing has been made and Dr. 
Bhss has given the President his sponge-bath, the 
patient generally dozes, Mrs. Garfield sitting by the 
bed. At nine o'clock Secretary Blaine arrives and gets 
the data for his cable despatch to Minister Lowell. 
The other Cabinet members arrive earlier with their 
wives. At half-past nine Secretary Brown closes his 
quarters, and the visitors depart. The Cabinet mem- 
bers remain later, not unfrequently until eleven o'olock. 
When they have gone the White House is closed, 
although there is always a door-keeper at the front 
door. Then General Swaim, or Colonel Rockwell, or 
Dr. Reyburn, or Dr. Boynton takes his turn at watching 
with the President." 

On the 2d of September the events of the day were 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD, 635 

reported as follows by the Associated Press corres- 
pondent : 

" The most which can fairly be said with regard to 
the President's case to-day is that the patient still 
holds all the ground which he gained earlier in the 
weeiv and that his symptoms to-night are favorable. 
His pulse has been lower and steadier to-day than yes- 
terday, and in the opinion of his attendants he has 
relished his food better than at any time heretofore ; 
but as far as the main features of the case are con- 
cerned, there has been little if any change. He is still 
very weak, and in the opinion of the majority of the 
surgeons, is not gaining much strength ; the parotid 
swelling continues to suppurate and discharge freely, 
but has not begun to heal, and the wound remains 
practically in the same condition in which it was 
three or four days ago. Of course, the fact that the 
glandular complication has nearly disappeared, while 
the patient's general condition has been fully main- 
tained, may be said, in a certain sense, to be a positive 
gain, since one of the obstacles in the way of convales- 
cence has thus been removed, but this is not equiva- 
lent to saying that convalescence has actually begun. 

" Dr. Bliss said to-night, in reference to the Presi- 
dent's removal : ' He ought not to remain an hour 
longer than necessary, because September, in Wash- 
ington, is a bad month. Although nothing has yet 
been decided upon, I think it is probable that we shall 
take him to Long Branch by rail. Tiie preponderance 
of opinion seems to be in favor of that course. Mr. 
Georsre W. Childs has offered us his cottage there, and 



636 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

we have had several other similar ofTers. As far as 
his nerves are concerned, the President will bear the 
journey well enough. He is not at all nervous, and he 
expresses great confidence in his ability to travel as 
far as that without over-fatigue or injury.' 

" ' Do you think,' asked the reporter, ' that he could 
be removed now without danger ? ' 

" ' No, I don't think he could. If it were proposed 

to move him to-morrow I should vote against it, but if 

he continues to improve as he has done in the past three 

or four days, I think he can be safely removed soon.* 

" Dr. Hamilton expressed a desire this afternoon to 

make a closer acquaintance with the Potomac flats, 

about w^iich he had heard so much, than he had 

hitherto been able to do, and at his request Colonel 

Crook, of the Executive Mansion, took him in his 

carriasre about three P. m. and drove him down the left 

bank of the river. Upon reaching a point nearly 

opposite the monument, Ik. Hamilton inquired, with 

an expression of surprise and disgust, ' What smells so ? ' 

" ' That's the flats,' replied Colonel Crook. 

" ' Do they always have such an odor as this ? ' 

asked the doctor. 

" ' They have had every summer since I came to 
Washington,' said Colonel Crook. 

"'Weir responded the doctor, 'We must get the 
President out of this. It's enough to kill a well man 
\n a week. 

On the 3d the President continued to hold his own, 
and on the 4th his condition was encouraging, as the 
official bulletins showed. 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 637 

On the 3d the surgeons in attendance on the Presi- 
dent decided to remove him to Long Branch at the 
earliest possible moment. The officials of the Penn- 
sylvania Railroad Company caused a special car to be 
prepared for his use on the journey, and placed all the 
facilities of the road at the disposal of the distinguished 
sufferer and his attendants. It was felt on all sides 
that the journey involved a risk, but it was also 
recognized that it offered the only possible chance 
of the President's recovery. On the third of Sep- 
tember the correspondent of the The Netu York Times 
wrote : 

" The fact that Saturdays have, as a general rule, 
been unfavorable days for the President excited appre- 
hensions in the minds of many persons in relation to 
his condition to-day, and, in consequence, the morn- 
ing bulletin was anxiously awaited. Its appearance 
quieted all such fears, and subsequent reports from the 
sick-room gave promise that this would be as favorable 
a day for the President as any of the present week. 
During the early hours of last night the President was 
somewhat restless, which caused higher pulse, but after 
midnight he fell asleep and rested comfortably, and this 
morning was quite as well as at the same time yester- 
day. This restlessness was not attributable to any 
particular symptom, but was the natural result of 
causes incidental to his condition. Compared with 
yesterday morning, there was a rise of four beats in 
pulse, but otherwise there was no material difference. 
For breakfast, in addition to milk toast, he was given 
the breasts of two or three reed birds, which he chewed, 



538 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

swallowing the juice and rejecting the meat. This 
change of diet was very acceptable to the President, 
who remarked to Dr. Bliss that ' the reed birds were 
not only delicious, but Blissful.' The noon bulletin 
showed no change compared w^ith the figures of that 
issue in the morning, the pulse continuing at 104, with 
temperature and respiration normal. Those who be- 
lieve in the periodicity of the recurrence of unfavorable 
symptoms were satisfied, after reading the brief an- 
nouncement of the midday bulletin, that nothing was 
to be apprehended to-day, and the evening bulletin 
fully confirmed this belief. The President not only 
passed a good day, but his condition at 6.30 o'clock 
was better than at the same hour last night, and 
since 6.30 o'clock there have been no unfavorable 
indications. 

" The fever that has been making its appearance 
toward midnight during the present week is attributed 
by some persons to malarial influences. While the 
surgeons will not admit that this is the case, they do 
not deny it, and the great anxiety manifested by them 
to get the President away from Washington, and the 
fact that the stench from the Potomac flats can now be 
detected at the White House, gives color to this theory. 
Dr. Hamilton, who personally visited the flats yester- 
day to ascertain their real character, is reported to 
have said that if the President remained at the White 
House during the present month the effect of the bad 
odors from the flats would be very serious upon him, 
if not fatal. To-day it was noticed that the surgeons 
and some members of the Cabinet were busy in per- 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 639 

fecting arrangements looking to the early removal of 
the President. 

"At the sus^orestion of the Governor of Pennsylvania, 
the Governors of several of the other States appointed 
a day of fasting, prayer and supplication to Almighty 
God to restore the suffering President to health. In 
some of the States the day observed was the 6th of 
September, in others the 8th. In all the people assem- 
bled heartily, and sent up their earnest prayers to God 
that he would mercifully restore their beloved ruler to 
health and strength. No more touching incident of 
the whole sickness of the President occurred than this 
gathering of the American people to humbly ask God's 
aid in his recovery. 

" On the 5th the President passed another very rest- 
less night, his pulse fluctuating rapidly in evidence of 
his great physical weakness, and his mind wandering 
constantly to the subject of his removal. The latter 
appeared to disturb him a great deal. He would con- 
stantly revert to the details of the arrangements as if 
he were conducting the campaign on his own account. 
It was impossible for the surgeons to quiet him or to 
prevent him from discussing the arrangements. His 
sleep was very much broken and he got no real rest 
until after midnight. With his sleep the pulse went 
down considerably, and remained so until morning, 
when it was 102. The first thing this morning, when 
he awoke, he inquired of Dr. Bliss if this was the 
last day in the White House. Dr. Bliss endeavored 
to quiet him, assuring him that he was doing well at 
present, and the removal would take place as soon as it 



640 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

was thought advisable from his condition. The Presi- 
dent was very impatient at this and said : ' No, no ; 1 
don't want any more delay,' and again impressed 
upon the doctors the importance of getting out of there 
as soon as possible. This has preyed upon his mind 
evidently all day, in consequence of which his tem- 
perature and pulse have been at a feverish height 
ever since this morning. In fact, the pulse has been 
steady at an unusual height all day, more remarkably 
so than at any time since he was shot. This is attri- 
buted to the President's restlessness about getting off, 
as it was continually apparent to him from Mrs. Gar- 
field's preparations that they were getting ready for the 
trip. 

" The Garfield boys started for Williams College at 
ten o'clock, accompanied by Don Rockwell and their 
tutor. Before leaving they were accorded an interview 
with their father. It is said to have been a very afiect- 
ing scene. The President did his best to cheer them up, 
and said that he would yet live to see them honored 
men. The boys stood it pretty well for a little, but the 
tears stole down their cheeks as they saw the wasted 
form of their father and listened to his feeble voice. 
He had evidently changed a good deal since they had 
seen him last. He took them each by the hand, 
although he could scarcely raise his own, and blessed 
them, and told them whatever came to do their duty 
to themselves and those who bore them. The boys 
immediate4y went within, embraced their tearful 
mother once again and came down-stairs. It was 
noticed that Jimmy's eyes were red, and they cast fur- 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 641 

tive glances at the huge covered express, with its spring 
mattress at the bottom, which stands before the door. 
It was dreadfully significant of the morrow. Tlieji 
they were whirled away in the family carriage. It 
was a very unsatisfactory parting." 

The 5th of September was a busy day at the White 
House, and was spent in preparations for the removal of 
the President to Long Branch the next morning. " Tlio 
situation to-night," wrote The Times correspondent, " is 
fraught with more than usual interest. The old 
crowds surround the evening bulletins and discuss the 
chances of the removal of the President with nmch of 
the eagerness displayed in the earlier part of the recent 
relapse. The anxiety and excitement incidental to the 
important change contemplated is at its height. At 
the White House there has been a subdued bustle of 
preparation going on all day. A number of packing 
boxes littered the yard below at a very early hour, and 
the disposition of these packing boxes enchained the 
attention of the curious newspaper fraternity who hung 
about with hungry eyes. Most of these were evidently 
for the doctors, whose surgical instruments and medi- 
cine cases occupied a good deal of room." 

A letter from Long Branch, written the same day, 
said : 

" Attorney General MacVeagh arrived here this 
evening as the advance guard for the removal of the 
President from the Washington malaria to the invigor- 
ating atmosphere of the sea-shore. He has had general 
charge of the arrangements for the delicate and peril- 
ous task, and has perfected them in the most satisfac- 
41 



542 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

tory manner. The car prepared for the President sur- 
prised even the critical surgeons by the completeness 
jf its appointments. It was prepared at Altoona un- 
der the immediate direction of Mr. Ely, superintendent 
pf motive power, and much of its marvellous adaptation 
to the peculiar wants of a prostrated invalid is due to 
Mr. Ely. In short, everything has been done that 
ingenuity and boundless resources can do to make the 
removal of the President as nearly comfortable and safe 
as possible. The car is thoroughly provided against 
changes of temperature, and it can be heated or cooled 
at will, and everything, even to the shades of light, has 
been carefully considered and arranged to lessen the 
strain upon the prostrated President. 

'' The President will be taken in the bed he now 
occupies to the Washington depot in an ambulance 
wagon, and drawn gently over the asphalt pavement, 
and in the car the bed will rest on buck-boards crossing 
the car, which have been carefully prepared and tested 
to give just the necessary amount of elasticity. The 
train will be run, as agreed upon to-day by President 
Roberts and Attorney General MacVeagh, at about 
thirty miles an hour on a straight road, and very slow 
on curves. In case the President shall exhibit ex- 
haustion from travel, the train will be stopped at some 
fivorable locality for pure air and as far as possible 
from public intrusion. Hundreds of men are now 
working on the temporary track, from the main line 
near Elberon station to the private cottage on the El- 
l>ercn grounds to be occupied by the President, and the 
new track will be completed by ten o'clock to-morrow. 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 643 

It will extend to the very door on the sea side of the 
cottage, and the President's bed will be easily trans- 
ferred to his room. 

" The Francklyn cottage, which is to be the Presi- 
dent's home while here, has been carefully prepared 
for his arrival, and everything is now in readiness ex- 
cept the arrangement of the room he is to occupy. 
Attorney General Wayne MacVeagh and Mrs. Mac- 
Veagh, who arrived here to night, will attend to that, 
although it is probable the judgment of Mrs, Garfield, 
and perhaps the physicians, may have to be consulted 
as to whether the President shall be taken up-stairs or 
have quarters on the first floor. Most likely it will be 
left to the President himself, and the present under- 
standing is that the fine large dining-room down-stairs 
will be suitably prepared so that he may be placed 
there immediately upon his arrival, and if he, does not 
like it or the physicians disapprove of the location, he 
can be carried up-stairs afterwards, although such a 
transfer would necessarily be attended with some dis- 
comfort on account of the construction of the heavy 
oaken stairways, which have turnings at the landings 
and high balustrades, above which he would h«ave to 
be lifted. The dining-room in question is a suitable 
apartment to be used for the President's sick cham- 
ber, but it has the disadvantage of being a little nearer 
the entrance, and unless extraordinary precautions 
were used the noises incidental to entering and leaving 
the cottage would reach the sufferer's ears. As so 
often happens with this style of cottage, there is no 
entry immediately in front. The central projecting 



644 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

portion is enclosed, and has windows above, with a 
vine-laden balconj' above that, then more windows, and 
above that the gabled roof. 

" The entry is a little at one side, under the porte 
coche, and the doors are in two parts, so that the upper 
one may be readily opened and conversation easily ex- 
changed, while the lower part remains closed. By this 
arrangement communication without any one outside 
coming in or any one inside going out is made an easy 
matter. Immediately within the vestibule is the hall, 
a high, wide apartment, with a fire-place, low tables, 
littered with curious things, and a few oddly-caparis- 
oned chairs and an overhanging balcony. Of equal 
width with this hall and extending entirely back is the 
dining-room, the floor elevation of which is about two 
feet higher than the hall, and is approached by two 
easy landings, like a dais. These landings have pedes- 
tals and small articles of furniture in the corners, and 
an immense portiere of some heavy Persian stuff ex- 
tends entirely across it, hung on rings, so that the two 
apartments may be isolated at pleasure, or preserved 
in an unbroken view. One corner contains a high old- 
fashioned clock. The hall and dining-room take up 
the whole depth of the cottage, which is probably fifty 
feet. Above the division where the portiere hangs 
there is a rack, such as is often seen on the top of old 
English mantel-pieces, which is filled with plates and 
pots and jugs and such odd fancies. 

" The fire-place in the dining-room is very large and 
wide, with a very ornamental chimney-piece, also lit- 
tered with curiosities, and the ceiling is lofty. It is 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD 645 

heavily panelled throughout with wood and cork. In 
places, as over the chimney-piece, the dark wood is in 
relieved panels, cut in whorl-shaped designs. The 
cork covering some sections of the walls is cut in small 
pieces of a great variety of shapes, cleverly set in 
place like Mosaic work. There is a curious dresser 
of hard wood built high in one corner, with pro- 
jecting shelves, and odd nooks and corners, some 
open and some with doors. The floor is littered with 
rugs, little ones of crimson and black, and large ones 
of buflf and chocolate, and the furniture is of that 
simple but artistic form sensibly conforming shape, 
design, and material to the purpose intended. 

" The rear middle section opens upon a small 
veranda reached by two steps, and from there nothing 
can be seen save the sea. It overlooks the very edge 
of the bluff, which is so high as to hide the beach 
and bathincr-houses below, and the land view at either 
side is cut off by projecting parts of the building, so, 
that the endless ocean is the only object the eye 
encounters, and its breezes, whether from the east or 
south, are always available. This is the room which 
the President will almost certainly occupy at first, and 
w^ill probably be his abode throughout his stay at 
El heron. 

" The only other room large enough or suited in 
other respects to receive him is the south chamber 
on the second floor. This is about twenty-five feet 
wide and fifteen feet deep, with an arched ceiling 
about twelve feet high in its highest part. It contains 
a very wide, low bedstead, elegantly covered. The 



646 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

head of the bed is toward the north, and should the 
President occupy it he can have either the direct sea 
breeze from the left, or the south wind from imme- 
diately in front of him, both passing over balconies 
where th§y may be tempered by bamboo screens, 
which also shut out the sun when necessary, and 
admit nothing but the breeze. The room is elegantly 
furnished w^ith quaint and pretty corner effects, but, 
as elsewhere throughout the house, there is an absence 
of everything gaudy or luxuriant. The whole house, 
outside and in, gives an idea of unlimited comfort 
without regard to fashionable display. The parlors 
have corner divans padded with figured silk cushions. 
The chairs are all made" for comfort, and the screens, 
which are the handsomest articles in the house, are 
ornamented simply with shells and miniature fishes. 

" The bath-rooms and closets are very large, and 
appear to have received even more care in their con- 
struction than other parts of the house. The kitchen 
and servants' quarters are on the other side of the 
carriage-way, and entirely distinct. There are about 
twenty apartments in all, including an ample number 
of cozy sleeping-rooms to accommodate whatever num- 
ber of persons there may be needed immediately near 
the sufferer. Fires were lighted yesterday, and all the 
flues and drafts tried and found to work well. A 
number of cots were put in to-day by C. T. Jonts, who 
has thus far made all the necessary preparations, and 
been, in consequence, a busy man. Applications from 
persons living in and visiting surrounding cottages to 
view the preparations have had to be refused, and at 



ASSASSINATION OF FKESIDENT GARFIELD. 647 

present the sole occupant of the cottage is a French 
maid. 

" General Grant, George W. Childs, and Commodore 
Garrison have each tendered horses and carriages and 
attendants, to be at the constant command of the 
President's party and the physicians, and the offer has 
been accepted. They will be very much needed, as 
this part of the Branch is a couple of miles away "from 
the leading hotels,- main post-oifice, stores and other 
places with which there will no doubt have to be 
frequent communication." 

On the morning of September 6th the surgeons de- 
cided to remove the President from Washinuton. 

The public, or at least a good share of it, remained 
n the streets of Washington all through the night of 
the 5th. They refused to "risk the single chance of 
lieholding the face of their beloved President once 
more. Many were walking the streets all night, while 
a good many had left orders to be called up in the 
early morning. It was not surprising, therefore, in 
view of this deep interest, that early dawn saw thou- 
sands of well-dressed people parading the streets and 
lounging about in the most eligible places on Penn- 
sylvania avenue. With the first streak of dawn a 
body of police were seen slowly passing up the avenue, 
dropping a file here and a file there at every street 
crossing. They were accompanied by a large body of 
mou ited police, who were stationed at the most fre- 
quji.ted points along the route, and began to intimate 
the character of the proceedings by halting the stray 
carriage and putting a stop to the early market wagon. 



648 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

The dawn had scarcely lifted its shadowy veil wheD 
mounted couriers went clattering down the street to 
insure that the orders for clearing the avenue were 
being carried out. A heavy cart loaded with saw-dust 
filled up the indentures in the worn pavement here 
and there, and banked over the several street railway 
crossings. 

''Those who appeared upon the avenue in the vicinity 
of Sixth street saw that the railroad liad extended itself 
completely across Pennsylvania avenue — a railroad with 
cross-ties, ballasted road-bed and rails complete, as if it 
had crawled out there during the night by some magic. 
On this railroad stood a train of cars, also large as life, 
and as wonderful to the eye in that position as a ship 
on dry land in some queer,- unexpected spot. Around 
these cars and for a considerable distance up the avenue 
were stretched ropes to keep off the crowd. The ropes 
were garrisoned by numerous policemen on the inside. 
On the outside they were hard pressed by immense 
crowds of people. This was the break of day. A few 
minutes later the morning sun was announced by the 
usual gun at the arsenal of Greenleaf Point, being 
unable to announce itself by the morning haze and 
murky September atmosphere. The crowd had dou- 
bled in that short time, and in five minutes later it 
had quadrupled. The curious public seemed to have 
sprung suddenly from their beds and lined the princi- 
pal streets in the city to witness the melancholy parade. 
The intersecting streets nearer the White House were 
lively with belated ones, who came hurrying toward 
the general thoroughfare, eager to get in line before the 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 649 

procession moved. On the Fifteenth street corner a 
hirge crowd congregated, and in front of the White 
House gates the night watchers roused themselves 
from uneasy slumbers on the cold stone copings and 
began to strain their eyes towards the mansion 
within. They first saw the big covered express wagon 
standing there in front of the portico, as it had stood 
the night before. 

" The first sign of life appeared in the throwing open 
of the White House doors. Then a carriage contain- 
ing a couple of White House attaches, drove on tie 
grounds. It was soon followed by one containing 
Secretary Blaine and Mrs. Blaine, while the other 
members of the Cabinet soon followed. It seemed but 
a quarter of an hour from the opening of the doors of 
the Executive Mansion before all was alive within the 
gates and everything betokened a hurried departure. 

" The removal of the President took place soon after 
sunrise. There was just enough haze left to break the 
glare, and the air was soft and balmy. Perhaps no 
better moment could have been chosen so far as the 
weather was concerned. The arrangements for the 
removal were perfect. Every detail had been care- 
fully planned beforehand and was carried out with 
military precision. Nothing had been forgotten, noth- 
ing had been miscalculated, and nothing, it may be 
said, went wrong. There was a slight hitch or two, 
but they were almost immaterial. It was precisely at 
5.45 when the mounted scouts came clattering back up 
the avenue and reported that the way was clear. It 
was then Drs. Hamilton and Agnew appeared, and 



650 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

behind them came the litter, borne between six strong 
men. The President was reclining on the same narrow 
couch on which lie has passed so many, so very many, 
weary hours. It had new stretcher handles added at 
the corners and was borne with the utmost gentleness 
and precision. The President's body was concealed by 
white blankets, and he lay on a stout, coarse sheet, in 
wliich it had been the custom to change him from one 
bed to another. 

'^ His face was exposed to the open air, uncovered, and 
such a fjice, so worn and sallow and pinched in expres- 
sion. It had the ghastly hue of the grave. The beard is 
cropped short. The festering abscess in his neck was 
concealed by a thick wadding of cotton, which extended 
from the lower part of the neck to the root of the ear. 
His moustache was gone. The nose seemed dreadfully 
pinched and sharp and hooked like a sort of a claw. 
Yet with all this it was said on every hand that he did 
not look as bad as was anticipated. It is difficult to 
say what such people anticipated. Had he been in his 
grave clothes the President could have scarcely looked 
more a ghastly corpse. Even his eyes were set and 
glassy. A good many took him to have been asleep 
while being removed, but this is erroneous. Your cor- 
respondent saw him turn his eyes twice to look at one 
of his doctors near at hand and saw his lips move 
slightly, as if making some suggestion. It must have 
been a very feeble voice, for Dr. Bliss bent his ear 
very close down to catch the words. 

" The President was borne on this litter down the 
main stairway in the central portion of the house, which 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 651 

leads to the private apartments. It is a very broad 
staircase, and no trouble was experienced in turning 
the only angle. He was carried into the room known as 
the Blue Room, thence, by the way of the great glass 
doors, into the large ante-room. A temporary platform 
had been erected on the portico across the carriageway 
to the intervening wall that at once separates the road- 
way from the park and forms tlie support of the stone 
columns. Across this platform they gently took him, 
as gently and tenderly as a mother might carry her 
sickly child, and placed the couch within the wagon. 
On the bottom of the wagon was a spring mattress, con- 
sisting of canvas stretched over slats and spring coils. 
In addition to this medium for breaking any unex- 
pected jolt, the attendants and doctors sat on the edge 
of the wagon box, with their feet on these springs, and 
the edge of the couch containing the sick man resting 
on their knees. There were Drs, Bliss and Reyburn 
and Boynton, and Colonels Rockwell and Corbin, and 
General Swaim, performing this manual labor of love. 
Drs. Bliss and Boynton and General Swaim each bore 
a large palm-leaf fan, with which they kept up a cur- 
rent of air. Dr. Bliss was plainly very much excited 
and nervous. In fact he was never before known to 
betray such a deep anxiety since the beginning. He 
held tlie patient's pulse under his finger all the time, 
and could be seen rather than heard addressing occa- 
sional words of comfort and reassurance to the Presi- 
dent. In fjict the latter appeared to be the annoying 
distance of it. As soon as it had passed out of the 
great gates the crowd doubled in behind at some dis- 



652 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

tance in the rear, and followed it all the way to the 
depot. There were throngs of people at the windows 
all along the route. When they had placed him in the 
wagon, Drs. Hamilton and Agnew, seated in their car- 
riage, were rolled out of the grounds. The President's 
private secretary followed and the Cabinet came next, 
one carriage after another, forming quite a lively cav- 
alcade of wheels. The covered express wagon bearing 
the President came slowly along in the rear. No teams 
followed it. At the depot a file of soldiers unhitched 
the horses and backed the wagon up to the platform, 
from which the President was transferred to the car. 
When in the car the President was moved from the bed 
so long occupied, and placed upon the spring bed pre- 
pared for his reception. Mrs. Garfield and the attend- 
ing and consulting physicians, with others, boarded the 
train, the party numbering twenty persons. There was 
a delay of a few minutes. At forty-five minutes past 
six o'clock the train started. 

*' The trip to Baltimore was made in good time, and 
the President felt so comfortable that a dispatch was 
sent to his mother, who is at Garretsville, Ohio, telling 
her that all was going well, and that her son was stand- 
ing the journey splendidly. At seven o'clock the Presi- 
dent took three ounces of beef tea, and seemed to 
relish it. The train w^ent slowly through Baltimore, 
making no stop. Few persons were about, and the 
ilispatches thrown off were received by Superintendent 
Wilkins, who distributed them to the representatives 
of the press. Nearly fifteen hundred people were 
gathered at the Wilmington depot, but they maintained 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. DOd 

perfect silence as the train moved by. Dr. Bliss threw 
off a bundle of dispatches. At Lamokin, a stop was 
made for coal, and Dr. Agnew assured Dr. Milner, of 
that place, who was at the depot, that the President 
was getting along very comfortably. The speed be- 
tween Baltimore and Philadelphia approximated forty- 
nine miles an hour. 

"After leaving Philadelphia, a high rate of speed was 
attained, which was continued until Tullytown was 
reached, where a stop of eleven minutes was made for 
water and fuel. This was a small place, and although 
a number of people gathered near, no annoyance was 
caused. Trenton was passed pretty rapidly, affording 
the crowds of people at the depot and on the bridges 
over the railroad very little opportunity for catching 
glimpses of the cars. Water was taken at Monmouth 
Junction, and from that point to Elberon the 
train ran at a very rapid rate. An immense crowd 
lined the track at Freehold, but not the least noise was 
made. The men uncovered their heads and som.e of 
the children waved flags. The train reached Elberon 
at nine minutes after one, P. M. Twenty minutes after- 
wards the patient was in his room." 

Private Secretary Brown gave the following state- 
ment of the trip : 

" I doubt if the removal could have been more skil- 
fully planned or the arrangements more perfectly con- 
ducted. Every detail was arranged minutely before 
we started, and the programme was strictly adhered 
to. The prospect, of course, was that the President 
would have to suffer the fatigue of a long, tedious 



554 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

journey ; but the news that the hour had arrived for 
his removal seemed to cheer him. He had been rest- 
less several days, anxiously anticipating the event. 
When the arrangements for his removal were being 
made he kept constantly inquiring about the details. 
He was kept informed, and knew thoroughly the whole 
programme. 

" The physicians were the only persons who re- 
moved the President from his bed in the White House. 
They lifted him in a sheet, and he was carried to a bed 
in the lower corridor of the White House. When he 
was fixed comfortably the bed was carried to a covered 
express wagon which was waiting at the door. Pre- 
parations had been made to keep the streets of Wash- 
ington free from noise. It was remarkable how faith- 
fully everybody complied with this instruction. The 
street cars had stopped running, and no vehicle of any 
description passed the express wagon which bore tlie 
President. The streets were filled with people of all 
kinds, but there was no demonstration of any descrii> 
tion. I noticed that a great many men uncovered 
their heads as the wagon moved slowly along the 
street. The people knew that the President was in 
the wagon, and they seemed to think that his improve- 
ment depended on their quietness. During this trip 
the patient was not disturbed in the least. There 
were three railroad tracks over which the wagon had 
to pass, but the jarring was avoided by filling the 
tracks with several inches of sawdust. The experi- 
ment proved to be a good one, as the wagon passed 
over the tracks as smoothly as it would have moved 
on a wooden floor. 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 655 

" The transfer from the wagon to the train was 
speedily made, and then the party was ready to start 
on the journey. The train was started without any 
noise. There was no ringing of bells or signals by 
I whistles. When the President was made comfortable 
in bed, the physicians told the conductor that they were 
ready to have the train started. A wave of the con- 
ductor's hand was the signal to the engineer, and the 
train moved slowly out. 

"Outside of the Presidential party there were on the 
train Thomas N. Ely, of the Pennsylvania Railroad, 
who superintended the running of the train, an en- 
gineer, a fireman, a conductor, a telegraph operator, 
and a lineman. The two telegraph men were taken 
on board, so that if an emergency arose assistance 
could be summoned immediately. There were many 
things that might have happened ; for instance, some 
accident to the engine, when it would be necessary to 
use the wire immediately. If we were far from a 
telegraph office, it would take hours to get the assistance 
that one could summon in a short time by having the 
telegraph men on hand. The telegraph men changed 
at the end of each division, as did also the engine 
hands. To avoid any possible confusion or mistake, a 
ticket was given to everybody who was to go on the 
train. When the doctors arrived they had to show 
their tickets the same as the telegraph men or the ser- 
vants. 

" The story of the trip, so far as it relates to the 
President's car, is nothing but the story of the sick-room 
for the last week. The middle car was kept as free 



656 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

from intrusion as was the President's room in the White 
House. The physicians were in constant attendance, 
but the other persons on the train seldom entered the 
car. Mrs. Garfield went into the car at intervals and 
remained a short time with her husband. There was 
nothing for her to do there and her presence might be 
an occasion for the President to talk, which the phy- 
sicians want him to avoid as much as possible. It was 
necessary sometimes for those in the front car to go 
into the rear one, and in that way all on board had an 
opportunity to see the patient. 

" I saw him for the first time in seventeen days. I 
was prepared to find him very much emaciated by his 
long suffering, and was much surprised at his appearance. 
His face was not as thin and pale as I thought it was, 
and his eyes were not as sunken. His beard has grown 
in length, but his face generally looks about the same 
as when I saw him last. The physicians attended to 
him the same as they did every day in the White 
House. At the usual hours he received the ordinary 
treatment. His wound was dressed in the train, he 
received his nourishment regularly, and he was treated 
to a sponge bath at stated intervals. His pulse was 
even throughout the journey, and the physicians say 
that it did not vary ten beats at any time. He was in 
a condition to manifest an interest in the trip, and 
occasionally asked for some information regarding what 
progress was being made. 

"No bad effects were noticed by the physicians. 
Everything was kept perfectly quiet, and it was not 
necessary to stop the train once on account of a change 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 657 

in the patient's condition. When the train started Mr. 
El}' said that he wanted to be informed about how the 
President -vvas standing the journey. The train started 
at a low rate of speed, but it was soon quickened. Mr. 
Ely often asked if the train was running too fiist, but 
he was always told that there was no perceptible change 
in the patient. We travelled about fifty miles an hour 
most of the way, and over part of the route we ran 
sixty miles an liour. Between Philadelphia and Mon- 
mouth Junction, where the track is almost perfectly 
level, we ran three miles at the rate of seventy miles 
an hour. Several stops were made to take on coal and 
water. At all these places great crowds had gathered 
to see the train. The crowds were orderly. There 
was no shouting or demonstration of any kind. When 
some of the party stepped on the platform to send a 
telegram or attend to some other matter, the people 
wou^i ask in a whisper, 'IIow is he bearing it?' At 
all these places flags were seen floating from houses and 
public places. The largest crowds were seen in the 
great cities of Philadelphia and Baltimore, where 
long lines extended in every direction; but there was. 
not the slightest noise or disturbance. At one of the 
stopping places the surgeons suggested giving the 
patient a sponge bath, but he replied : — ' No, go on 
through. It is more advisable to get to Elberon Station 
than to give me a bath.' The incidents of the journey 
were few, as the President was treated exactly in the 
same way as he was yesterday in the White Plouse." 

In the appended table may be seen the time made 
between the various stations by the President's train, 

42 



658 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



the distances from point to point and the places where 
there were halts : 



Stations. 

Washington 

Benning's 5 

Wilson's 9 

iSeabrook 12 

Bowie 17 

Odenton 24 

Severn 27 

Winans 34 

St. Agnes 37 

J'ulton Junction 40 

Bait., Charles St 42 



Time. 
Miles. A. M, 
6.46 



Stations. 



Time. 
Miles. A. M. 



46 



6.56 
7.04 
7.11 
7.18 
7.29 
7.34 
7.48 
7.54 
7.59 
8.02 
a8.10 
18.22 
8.33 
8.40 
8.49 
8.54 
8.59 
9.C9 
9.22 
9.31 
9.39 
9.46 
9.55 
10 03 

JLamokinf < IJo. , „ .,. 



Bay View* <^ 

Chase's 57 

^lagnolia 60 

Ferryman's 68 

Aberdeen 73 

Havre de Grace 78 

Perryville 79 

North East 88 

Elkton 94 

Newark 100 

Stanton 106 

Wilmington 112 

Bellevue 117 



Chef5ter 126 10.2i 

Moore's 1 30 10.30 

Paschall 134 10.3.5 

Gray's Ferry 137 10.39 

West Phila 139 10.52 

Mantua 140 10.58 

N. Penn. June 145 11.05 

Frankford June 147 11.08 

Taconv 150 11.14 

Cornwell 156 11.19 

Schenck's 159 11.26 

TullvtownJ 165 11.33 

Morri.sville 170 11.47 

Trenton 172 11.48 

Princeton June 181 11.59 

p. M. 

Monmouth June 187 12.07 

Dayton 189 12.10 

Jamesburg 192 12.14 

Freehold 204 12.28 

Farmingdale 212 12.37 

Sea Girt 220 12.48 

Elberon Station 233 1.09 

Francklyn Cottage 233| 1.20 



* Stopped to dress President's wound, f Stopped for coal and water. | Stop- 
ped for water. 

A letter from Long Branch thus describes the arrival 
of the President there: 

"All Elberon was throbbing with suppressed excite- 
ment when the President arrived. Through the night 
•the rumbling of passing vehicles had been kept up; 
locomotive headlights gleamed in sight, where at least 
three hundred men were building the road from the 
aepot to the cottage, and the click of hammers driving 
in the spikes and the clatter of iron rails mingled their 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 659 

noises with the reverberations of the waves. When the 
cottagers awoke in the morning they found a railroad 
at their doors, running through what was an orchard 
the night before, and locomotives were drawing cars 
with armed soldiers over the flower-bordered lawns 
where ladies in white flannel suits were playing tennis 
the previous afternoon. In a night, as if under the 
spell of a magician, this completely-equipped structure 
had arisen. As early as seven o'clock the whole coast 
knew the President had started, and the fishermen 
out at sea, getting the tidings from the shore, passed 
the word from boat to boat. Through the morning 
flocks of carriages, containing anxious people, came 
trooping from other parts of Long Branch, and from 
Ocean Grove, Monmouth Beach and other places, all 
intent upon seeing the President safely housed in his 
snug sea-quarters. At noon the drive fronting the 
hotel was an impenetrable mass of vehicles. The line 
of the road to the station was also crowded with car- 
riages and with people afoot, and at the point of alight- 
ing there were at least a thousand ladies, mostly from 
the West End and the other resorts, who left their 
coachmen and conveyances at a distance. Glossy 
landaus and carryalls with glittering wheels were 
drawn up in lines, and their statuesque drivers, with 
rich, dark livery, glossy hats and general English 
make-up, added to the picturesque watering-place 
effect. 

"All was stir and bustle in the little foreign-looking 
hotel which adjoins the Francklyn cottage. The opera- 
tors at the telegraph there had been ordered peremp- 



660 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

torily to receive no press dispatches, their wires being 
reserved for government business alone. But the press 
representatives from New York, Washington and else- 
where, seeking information for papers all over the 
country, were on hand, nevertheless, and besieged the 
place until at last a pony express had to be put in ser- 
vice to carry the hundreds of messages to the West 
End, where a full corps of operators were stationed. 
Messenger boys in livery, mounted on neat little ponies, 
were galloping from office to office as if the fate of a 
world depended upon saving a moment. United States 
army officers, in glistening helmets, moved in and out; 
orderlies, with dispatches, came post-haste ; guards, 
with fixed bayonets, picketed the hotel grounds ; groups 
of elegant-looking ladies, with a great deal of rich, 
gorgeous color in their draperies, occupied the piazzas^ 
and the lobbies were crowded with men of distinction. 
Telegrams received in the hotel giving the progress of 
the train were passed from one person to another, be- 
coming general with incredible rapidity. People were 
buoyant and bright and cheerful, and the spirit of the 
hour seemed to be that the President was going to get 
well if he could only be brought through safe. 

"At last, just at the expected time, twenty minutes 
after one o'clock, the engine, with the three cars 
attached, came slowly and smoothly to the station and 
stopped. The on-lookers were mute. The faces were 
cheerful, but there were no cheers, and people even 
refrained from conversation. There was a wonderful 
consideration shown by the people for the nice proprie^ 
ties. The switch was turned and the engine slowljf 



At.&AbSliNATlUJN UH' ^KESlUKiST GARFIELD. DOi 

backed the cars up the temporary railroad erected dur- 
ing the night to the cottage. There was a flutter of 
color among the parterre of ladies on what is called the 
quarter-deck of the hotel, above the bath-houses and 
commanding a view of the cottage, but not a handker- 
chief was waved, not a clapping of hands, not anything 
approaching a demonstration, which would have been 
manifestly improper under the circumstances. The 
track was to the back of the cottage, where there is a 
veranda opening into the dining-room. A platform, 
covered with canvas above and on the sides, was ready 
to slide into the car door, which is near the centre, and 
when this was let down the prostrate President was 
carried in without any of the thousand spectators 
catching a glimpse except las a section of the canvas 
sides blew apart and disclosed for a moment the tableau 
of several men carrying a couch with something white 
on it and two emaciated hands crossed in front. What 
was thus seen was the wasted form of James A. Gar- 
field, now only a light, but none the less precious 
burden. The friends and attendants who handled him 
in the car carried him into the house. Mrs, Garfield 
and some of the children, and the nurses and others 
who were in another car, walked around and went in 
the front door. Not much difficulty was met with 
carrying him up-stairs into the south chamber, which 
was selected because the large room below was too ex- 
posed to secure perfect quiet. 

" The first thing done after the President was brought 
to his room was to dress the wound, which had re- 
ceived only temporary attention on the train. It is 



^^2 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



customary for some of the doctors to give the Pre»i. 
dent a bath every few hours while awake, a„d tlie 
bath consists of sponging the entire surface of his body 
with alcohol, a treatment wliicli gives him great 
pleasure. After the party started the doctors wanted 
to give him his bath on the train, and Dr. Bliss went 
in to ask him if he would have it. ' No,' said General 
Garfield; ' I like the bath pretty well, but we will not 
bother about it now. The great thing at present is 
progress; we will do all these other things after we ^et 
to the end of the route.' Con.sequently the ne.xt thh,.. 
was to give liim his bath. After tliat he had some 
beef essence, such as he took during the trip, from two 
to four ounces every two hours, and then he was left' 
alone and fell asleep. Just before he did so he turned 
a little in the bed and murmured to Colonel Rockwell 
as the regular rolling of the waves outside the widow 
reached his ears, 'Isn't that restful! Oh, how much 
better this is ! Dr. Bliss autliorizes the statement as 
coming from him and the other physicians that the 
i-resident was given no opium or anodyne in any shape 
whatever, either to-day or the day before. His sleep 
Monday night was natural, and his naps, for twenty- 
five minutes this afternoon and for fifteen minutes just 
before seven o'clock, were not brought on by any arti- 
ficial means. No hypodermic injectio;is were given on 
the tram and he did not attempt to sleep, because he 
said he had looked forward to the trip with a great 
deal of pleasure and he wanted to enjoy it. 

" The question every one will be asking in the morn- 
iDg IS, Has the trip done the President any good? 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 5b J 

What effect has it had upon his condition ? Do the 
doctors think it has been or may yet benefit ? ' I am 
of the oiDinion,' said Dr. Bliss, just after dinner this 
evening, ' that the atmosphere of Long Branch is much 
better for the President than the atmosphere of Wash- 
ington. Its influence will be helpful. In the evening 
bulletin the anticipated rise of pulse, consequent upon 
the excitement of the trip, was manifested. Just 
before we went to dinner his pulse was running at one 
hundred and twenty-four. On the whole, we consider 
that up to this hour his general condition is an im- 
provement—not a marked improvement, but still an 
improvement. When we dressed the wound in the 
back we found that it was granulating finely, looked 
clear and bright in color, and discharged freely and 
healthily. The wound has been healing for several 
days, and the exterior— that is to say, the surface 
skin— is beginning to gather about the orifice. An 
abrasion in the back is also looking better. We 
fully expected the indications of slight reaction which 
have taken place since the dressing ; still the President 
has held to the idea that if he got to Long Branch he 
would get well, and we are hopeful that his mmd may 
have some influence upon his general condition. We 
do not look for any very great improvement, not so 
much improvement as we expect the day after ; but if 
any particular improvement occurs on Wednesday, it 
will be a very favorable circumstance." 

On the whole, the removal of the President was re- 
garded by his physicians as a great success, and as a 
positive benefit to him. 



GG4 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

On the morning of September the 7th the President's 
cotta2;e was calm and still. " It had been a nii>ht of 
rest and the President himself had passed several hours 
of sleep. The tired attendants, overcome with the 
long and anxious strain, the quick preparation for 
leaving Washington and the excitement and suspense 
of the trip, were at last able to close their eyes and 
gather new strength. The doctors relieved each other 
through the night, but even they were able to get more 
rest than usual and awoke refreshed. 

" But early as was the hour the President was awake. 
Suddenly starting from one of those short, fluctuating 
periods of somnolence that have marked the latest 
phases of his case, he asked to be raised a little, and 
for full half an hour he enjoyed the panorama of the 
sea. 

"' Rockwell,' he said, 'you know I wanted to be a 
sailor once. It was the merest chance ray lot was 
not cast with those brave fellows out there.' 

" He did not say it rapidly, but slowly, for he was 
very weak, but his voice was clear and his enunciation 
quite distinct. As he spoke he looked in the direction 
where a magnificent ship was just coming into sight, 
with every sail set and speeding before the wind. 
She was deep in shadow; her outlines dark^ like 
silhouette, and her masts and canvas-clad yards dim 
and misty. The next moment the rosy light of the 
fast ascending sun fell upon the picture. The sails 
shone like gold, and the ship seemed to be floating on 
crystal tinged with pink. The President, for months 
pent up in the confines of the White House, took in all 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 665 

the beauty of this bright scene, and smiled with evi- 
dent satisfaction. 

'' Down on the beach all was deserted. The large 
flag in front of the cottage hung dreamily. The cactus 
plants on the piazzas gave a sort of tropical cast to the 
place, the rapidly-increasing heat of the sun heighten- 
ing the effect. There seemed scarcely a breath of air 
stirring. A bugle blew. The guards were changed 
with the usual formality, and in a little while the 
whole artillery company was drilled. As the morn- 
ing wore on the bustle about the cottage increased. 
The meals for the family were sent in. MoUie Gar- 
field and Lulu Rockwell went bathing, and messen- 
gers carrying notes of condolence and calling to leave 
the card of sympathy began to arrive. Among the 
callers were : Aristarchi Bey, the Turkish Minister, 
and other diplomatic officials ; Mr. Birney, the United 
States Minister to the Hague; Admiral Marston, of the 
Navy; Justice Strong, of the Supreme Court; Senator 
Chaffee, and all the members of the Cabinet. 

"A large quantity of game from St. Louis, and 
peaches and flowers innuinerable, from unknown per- 
sons, were received during the morning. Later in 
the day Mrs. Garfield and MoUie went driving, in 
response to the invitation of one of the lady cottagers. 
The day was the hottest known on the coast in 
many years. With a breeze blowing through the room 
the thermometer stood 94 about noon. The President 
felt it very much, and complained of feeling the effects 
of the heat. Almost all day there was a land breeze, 
which felt like the air from a red-hot furnace. The 



666 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

hottest day in July or August was cool in comparison. 
At one time a little sea breeze sprang up, but lasted 
only for a short time. The President was the first 
to notice it, and called Dr. Bliss' attention to the 
fact. 

" ' Oh, doctor,' he said, in a feeble voice, ' if it would 
only keep like that ! ' " 

" The heat had the effect of taking away his cheer- 
fulness to some extent, and he did not talk much, lying 
still and apparently struggling to catch every stray 
breath of fresh air that found its way into the room. 
It must be remembered that the room in which he 
is lying is not open on the side from which the wind 
has been blowing. Mrs. Garfield expressed herself t^o 
Dr. Bliss as greatly disappointed at the unusual heat 
of the weather, and she was evidently very anxious 
as to the effect it would have. 

" Dr. Bliss said at night : ' I have nothing encourag- 
ing to say; neither am I despondent. The President is 
very ill, but no worse than the circumstances justify. 
If we get a sea breeze, I will have something more 
cheerful to sav.' 

" ' Considering the great heat,' said Dr. Eeyburn at 
eleven o'clock, ' and taking into account the President 
has not fully recovered from the excitement of the 
trip, I think there is no occasion for alarm. It is too 
early to say that he is any worse. While he keeps up 
so well himself, there is great hope.' " 

On the 8th of September the improvement in the 
President continued. On that day Drs. Woodward, 
Barnes, Reyburn, and Edson withdrew from the man- 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 667 

agement of the case. The oflicial bulletins were as 
follows : 

" 8.30 A. M. — At the morning examination, made at 
eight o'clock, the President's pulse was 104, teu;ipera' 
ture, 98,7, and respiration 18. He was restless and 
wakeful during the early part of the night, but after 
twelve midnight slept well until morning. His general 
condition appears more encouraging. 

" 6.30 p. M. — At noon to-day the President's temper- 
ature was 98.4; pulse, 94; respiration, 17. At the 
evening dressing, at half-past five, P. M., his temper- 
ature was 99; pulse, 100; respiration, 18. He has 
taken a liberal amount of food, both solid and Huid, 
with apparent relish. 

" By special request of the President it has been 
made our duty to say in this public manner to Surgeon 
General Barnes, Surgeon J. J. Woodward, and Dr. 
Robert Reyburn, that in dispensing with their services 
as his medical attendants, he was actuated only by a 
wish to relieve them of labor and responsibility which 
in his improved condition he could no longer properly 
impose upon them. Both the President and Mrs. Gar- 
field desire to express to these gentlemen personally and 
in the same public manner their high appreciation of 
the great skill and discretion which they have so con- 
stantly exercised as associate and counsel in the man* 
agement of his case up to the present time." 

On the same day the correspondent of The PhUa- 
delpliia Times wrote as follows: 

" Two fishermen from Monmouth Beach, who had 
heard of President Garfield's miraculous appetite and 



668 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

thouirht a nice thinji; to do would be to catch some of 
the fine Spanish mackerel now so abundant along the 
coast and send them to him for his breakfast, went out 
last night to see what they could get. They came in 
this morning with several of the finest specimens a 
hook has taken from the water this summer. These 
they sent to Elberon, and, although they were not used, 
the act received its due appreciation. But if the Presi- 
dent did not indulge in this particular luxury he did 
in others. He passed the night without much distur- 
bance and awoke refreshed. At breakfast he surprised 
everyone by saying that he would like something more 
substantial than the porridge which is usually the 
basis of this meal. 

" ' What would you say to game ? ' said General 
Swaim ; ' some one has sent a lot of splendid woodcock, 
packed in ice.' 

" ' Well, bring some up anyway,' said the President, 
and it was accordingly cooked and served. He took a 
little piece of the breast and nibbled at it. Dr. Bliss 
says he picked it very thoroughly and smacked his lips 
as if enjoying himself At dinner he also ate a little 
more solid food, and said that he knew salt sea air made 
him as hunorrv as a hawk. 

" During the morning the President was in a splen- 
did humor. It was learned at second hand, but from 
good authority, that the President said: 'Now that 
all those doctors have gone, I feel wonderfully 
better.' 

" Dr. Bliss was telling him of his decreased pulse, 
when he said : 'Yes, less pulse and less doctors is a 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 669 

very good sign,' and then he made the remark just 
quoted. A few minutes afterwards he said : 

" ' Bliss, it's going to be tiresome down liere. Don't 
you think you could get up some amusement? Have 
Rockwell and some of them come up. What would 
you say to a game of cards ? ' 

" ' No, no,' said Dr. Bliss ; 'it would never do. Af- 
ter you get stronger we may think about something of 
that sort, but not just now. 1 couldn't think of it.' 

" * Well, I don't know why,' said the President. ' I 
don't see what harm a little game would do me,' and he 
looked rather disappointed at not getting his wish. 

" Since he has had his way in getting to Long 
Branch he is beoinninsr to assert his will. Indeed, of 
late there is a great deal going to show that he has to 
some extent taken his own case in hand himself 
From the first he was opposed to so many doctors, and 
often expressed his displeasure. Once he made the 
remark, ' Bliss, I'm getting tired of this mob.' He hns 
also crrown sick of beins tumbled about and examined, 
and having different doctors at different hours put ther- 
mometers under his arms and feel his pulse. Since he 
came here he has rebelled against so much examination, 
and consequently the number of bulletins has been 
shortened. 

"Then he has thought Mrs. Edson ought to go home 
— not that he was tired of her, but because he felt she 
was greatly worn, and needed rest. Mrs. Edson de- 
murred, but the President had to have his way. He 
aiso had the satisfaction of seeing his idea about lessen- 
ing the number of physicians carried out. Drs. Barnes 



670 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

and Woodward have returned to Washington, and Dr. 
Reybiirn has gone to visit friends at Ocean Grove. 
They felt very bad about it, but the President was 
inexorable The fact that all three of them voted in 
council .".gainst his removal to Long Branch did not 
rpise them in his favor. No one told him, but sick 
men learn these things, and Garfield is a sort of ama 
teur psychologist. Anyhow, he has several times 
astonished the doctors by showing that he knew things 
going on outside. Before leaving Washington he in- 
sisted on the reduction of the surgical force to Dr. 
Bliss, with Drs. Agnew and Hamilton intervening as 
consultants. But Dr. Bliss, in courtesy, thought he 
would ask all his colleagues to make the trip to Long 
Branch. When one of the interdicted ones came into 
the car during the trip, Garfield said : ' Hasn't he gone 
away yet?' This is the plain truth, and the compli- 
mentary allusions of the evening bulletin are simply 
surgical salve for irritated feelings. After all this it is 
scarcely necessary to say that President Garfield's con- 
dition has very much improved. The weather was in 
strange contrast to 3^esterday. A fine breeze began 
blowing in the morning and kept up continuously, 
until at night there were clouds scudding across the 
sky. The sea was unduly agitated, making masses of 
angry-looking surf, and the wind blew stiffly, almost as 
if presaging a storm. The slat shutters on the sea 
windows of the President's room had to be closed and 
more covering put on the bed. He enjoyed the change 
to the fullest, and said he wished it would blow a gale. 
"Attorney General MacVeagh had the cars in which 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 671 

the party came sent back to-day. They were standing 
on the track as grim reminders of a possible contin- 
gency, now seemingly altogether removed. The num- 
ber of guards was also reduced, and they no longer 
appear with their muskets, which is in n)uch better 
taste. A sentry simply sits at the door, and another 
walks by the house with his hand's behind him. 

" ' Crete,' said the President to his brave little wife, 
about eleven o'clock this morning, as the ringing strokes 
from the belfry of the Protestant Episcopal church, 
almost across from the cottage, reached his ears, 'what 
are they ringing that bell for?' 

"'That?' said Mrs. Garfield, who had been waiting 
for the surprise; 'that's the church where we were 
when you first came down. They're all going there 
to pray for you to get well,' and getting on her knees 
she said : 'And Pm going to pray, too, James, that it 
may be soon, for I know already that the other prayer 
has been heard.' 

" From v/here he lay, Garfield could see the carriages 
draw up, and group after group go in. He could even 
hear the subdued refrain of ' Jesus, lover of my soul,' 
as it was borne by on its heavenward way. Thrilled 
with emotion, a tear trickled down the President's face. 
After a while a sweet, woman's voice arose, singing 
from one of Sir Michael Costa's noblest oratorios, 
' Turn Thou unto me and have mercy upon me,' sang 
the voice, ' for I am desolate ; I am desolate and 
afflicted ; the troubles of my heart are enlarged. Oh, 
bring Thou me out of my distresses, out of my dis- 
tresses, my God.' 



672 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

" The people in the church sat almost spellbound 
under the voice. Mrs. George W. Childs, who sang 
the recitative, was aftected deeply, and made it seem 
to all, what it must have been to her, a prayer in 
music. Rev. Dr. Morton, of Philadelphia, was the 
officiating clergyman, and prayed long and fervently 
that the Chief Magistrate of the nation might be pre- 
served to the people and made more useful than before. 
It was a solemn, deeply-felt and awe-inspiring service, 
but still made bright by the evidences of religious 
hope." 

During the 9th, the President continued to hold the 
ground he had gained, and Secretary Blaine telegraphed 
to Minister Lowell that the sufferer had not for many 
weeks done so well for so many consecutive hours. 

A letter from Long Branch, on the same day, said : 

" The two best things in the President's favor to-day 
are that he was able to see Attorney-General Mac- 
Veagh, and that Dr. Agnew, when he dressed the 
wound to-night, found him better than when he left 
him on Wednesday night. Dr. Agnew saj^s : * He is 
very weak yet, but better. His loss has been great, 
but does not approximate two-fifths his weight. I do 
not dread any complications beyond his sinking condi- 
tion. A great deal is said about the bullet having been 
located. I will say that so far as I am concerned I do 
not know where it is. Any operation for the purpose 
of getting at the ball is something that will not be 
considered at this time. To overcome the patient'.s 
weakness will be the single aim.'" 

On Saturday, September the 10th, the President's 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 673 

condition was quite as favorable as on the previous 
day. 

On the 11th, there was an alarming return of the 
unfavorable symptoms in the President's case. The 
evening bulletin indicated higher temperature and 
pulse than for several days past. There were also 
indications that blood-poison had affected the right 
litng, involving a serious state of affairs. While the 
patient slept well and took the usual nourishment 
brandy had to be used, and milk punch was given to 
create an appetite. On the whole, the situation once 
more assumed an alarming character 

43 



CHAPTER XIV. 

DEATH OF TRESIDENT GARFIELD. 

Slow Progress of the President's Case — Is Placed in his Reclining Chair — 
Slight Signs of Improvement — The President Enjoys the View of the Sea 
— A Change for the Worse — The Chills Return— The Surgeons lose Hope 
—September the Nineteenth— The Last Struggle — Death of President Gar- 
field — The Brave Battle over — General Swaim's Account of the Death- 
gcene— Dr. Bliss's Account — Vice-President Arthur Notified — The News 
Spread Throughout the Country — The National Sorrow— Sympathy from 
Abroad — Message from Queen Victoria to Mrs. Garfield — The President's 
IVIother Receives the News— The Post-Mortem— Tlie Body Conveyed 
from Elberon to Washington City — Incidents of the Journey— Arrival at 
Washington — Conveyed to the Capitol— Lying in State Under the Dome 
— The Last Parting of the Family with the Husband and Father — The 
Funeral Services — The Journey to Cleveland — Scenes along the Route — 
Arrival at Cleveland — Lying in State in Monumental Park — Sunday in 
Cleveland — Funeral of President Garfield — The Nation's Last Tribute to 
its Martyred Chief. 

The case of the heroic sufferer continued to drag along 
wearily, yet his condition seemed, on the whole, to be 
steadily improving. On the 12th of September he was 
much better and brighter, and appeared to take his 
food with more relish. On the 13th there was a still 
more marked improvement, though it w^as recognized 
■on all hands that a " better day " for the President in 
his exhausted condition meant simply that he had n^* 
-exhibited any unfavorable symptoms, and was no worse 
than on the previous day. Matters were very quiet 

(674) 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 0/0 

about the Francklyn Cottage during the day. The 
President liad passed a good night, and on the morning 
of the loth requested to be placed in the recUning 
invalid chair. This was done, and the chair was so 
placed that the President could command a view of the 
beach and take in the bathers frisking on the sands 
and in the surf. Among them— or, rather, a little to 
the right and almost opposite the cottage — were his 
charming little daughter, Mollie, Lulu Rockwell and 
young MacVeagh. They were scarcely more than 
fifty yards from the window. The President could see 
the laughing ftices and hear the happy shouts when the 
breakers rolled over them, and he lay silently contem- 
plating the joyous scene for half an hour, when he 
requested to be put back to bed again. This will be 
repeated as long as he can stand it. He enjoys it 

amazingly. 

On the 14th the same happy condition of affairs was 
maintained, and the President was again transferred 
from his bed to his easy- chair. It was agreed that he 
should occupy it, and continue his pleasing study of 
the ocean just as long as he was not tired, or as long 
as he showed no ill-effects therefrom. At the end of 
an hour, when Dr. Bliss at the hotel learned from a 
messenger that the patient was still in the chair he 
hurried over, and, after a consultation with Dr. Hamil- 
ton, suggested to the patient that he be put back to 
bed again. It was done by insinuation only, but it 
appeals the patient did not take the hint and con- 
tinued to gaze out upon the sea, then tossed in foamy 
white caps. Finally the hint was broadened, but the 



676 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

President promptly objected. 'He said he was per- 
fectly comfortable and preferred to stay wliere he was 
a while longer. In the words of Dr. Hamilton, when 
asked to go to bed he "kicked like a steer." At the 
expiration of the time mentioned, however, he was 
prevailed upon to submit to the change. There was 
no evidence that he had suffered any inconvenience 
from this long occupancy of the reclining chair. On 
the contrary, he expressed himself as feeling much 
refreshed, and is said to have made some humorous 
remarks about his apparently improved condition. 

The 15th of September was a wild, cheerless day at 
Elberon, and was most unfavorable for the sufferer. A 
strong east wind swept the sea, and lashed the shore 
with a continuous roar. All that could be said for the 
sufferer was that he continued to hold his own "with," 
as Dr. Boynton remarked, " a slight falling off in vitality 
and strength." 

The President was moved to his reclining chair as 
usual and remained there listening to the roar of the 
sea and the shrill whistling and ghostly shrieking of 
the wind for nearly an hour. At the expiration of 
that time he was lifted back again and fell into a state 
of semi-unconsciousness, which more resembled stupor 
than sleep. He rested very much of the time in that 
state. During the day he called for some beefsteak 
and seemed to derive much pleasure from giving 
directions how it should be cooked. When it was 
brought in, prepared in the best style and big enough 
for two well men of good appetite, he could partake of 
but as much as would fill a tablespoon and this care- 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 677 

fully minced. Dr. Boynton said the patient's appetite 
was not so "ood that dav. At the best it was but weak 
and fitful. Verj' ollen his sense of the necessity of his 
eating something anyhow was so strong that he insisted 
on being fed when his taste rebelled against all food. 
This craving for food was not appetite, but an exertion 
of a tremendous Avill power. 

On the 16th there was a marked change for the 
worse, and the President's condition excited the gravest 
apprehension. There were unmistakable evidences of 
increasing weakness, both in mind and body. The 
discharges from the wound were more unhealthy than 
for some time past; there was a second febrile rise 
toward evening, which had not occurred before since 
he reached Elberon, and stimulants had to be adminis- 
tered in larger quantities. He was unfit to be moved 
to the easy-chair and expressed no wish for the change. 
His mind wandered more or less all day, and he seemed 
to recognize his danger in the lucid intervals. It 
looked as though the eleventh Saturday since the 
shooting was about to mark another crisis in the case 
of the nation's patient. 

On the 17th the President sank still lower. Shortly 
before noon he was seized with a severe chill, and his 
pulse, temperature and respiration soon increased to a 
remarkable extent; the pulse reaching the alarming 
figure of 120. The physicians promptly admin istt^red 
brandy and water, but he grew deathly sick, vomiting 
up the stimulant and everything else on the stomach. 
At the same time he was in a raging delirium, and 
talked wildly and clutched at the blankets. This 



678 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

alarmed one of the attendants so much that he reportec 
the President dying. The alarm may be said to hav( 
communicated itself to the entire household. Th( 
absent members of the Cabinet were telegraphed U 
return immediately. All but Secretary Lincoln, wh( 
has been at Rye Beach, arrived here during the after 
noon. 

After the rigor had passed the President sanlv into i 
quiet sleep, and slept more or kss during the remaindei 
of the day. His pulse and temperature subsided tovvarc 
evening, and there was no recurrence of the chill 
Enema was administered successfully and stimulant 
were not rejected. His condition, however, was con 
sidered more critical than ever, and it was a questioi 
whether enough vitality could be maintained to coun 
teract the exhaustion of the system. 

Sunday, the 18th of September, opened finely, witl 
a delicious breeze from the east. The morning bulletii 
from Francklyn Cottage gave hopes that the Presiden 
would have a good day. The President slept wel 
during the night, and, in his waking hours, there wa 
an absence of mental hallucinations. Up to a lat< 
hour on Saturday night, there were grave fears as U 
his condition, more rigors being feared, but ncn( 
came. Every precaution had been taken to preven 
it, his extremities being wrapped in dry, heatec 
flannels. 

Secretaries Hunt and Windom and Postmaster-Gen 
eral James arrived on the night of the 17th, and wen 
met at the depot by Attorney-General MacVeagh, wh( 
escorted them to the West End Cottage, and there ex 



A&OA&siJNATlUJN ut fHHHlDKNT GARFIELD. OiV 

plained to them the condition of the President. None 
of them went to Elberon during the nigUt. 

The 18th was passed by the President with com- 
parative comfort. There were grave fears during the 
morning that a rigor would occur, and, in order to 
prevent its development, the attending surgeons 
ordered the application of hot cloths, which proved 
a successful treatment. There were indications of a 
cooling of the extremities, but the hot applications 
brought on an increase of temperature, and the cool- 
ness gradually wore away without producing a chill. 
Had a rigor occurred during the morning it would 
have been a very serious one, as the patient was ex- 
tremely enfeebled. 

With the exception of the renewed efforts which 
have been employed to keep the temperature from 
falling below the normal range the day passed without 
an event of an extraordinary character. Shortly after 
the issue of the evening bulletin, however, the rigor 
which had been dreaded all day, set in and lasted 
fifteen minutes. It was followed by a high fever 
which continued until midnight, after which the Presi- 
dent was comparatively comfortable. 

Monday, September 19th, opened with cause for the 
gravest fears. At half-past eight, while the surgeons 
were preparing for the morning dressing of the wound, 
a severe chill came on which lasted fifteen minutes, 
and was followed by profuse sweating and high fever. 
In the President's weakened condition this was cause 
for the most serious alarm. 

When he had somewhat recovered from the efiects 



680 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

of the chill, he said to Dr. Bliss : " How am I looking, 
doctor?" the doctor assured him that he looked quite 
as well as could be expected under the circumstances, 
whereupon he asked the attendant for a hand-ghiss. 
The glass was brought and he looked into it silently 
for quite a minute. Rolling his eyes sadly towards 
the doctor, for he couldn't turn his head, he said : 

" How strange it is that when I look no worse and 
feel no worse that I am so terribly weak." 

The words went to the hearts of all who were pres- 
ent, and some of the attendants turned away to hide 
the gathering tears. " How strange it is," they might 
have answered, " that this man, with his iron will 
alone to aid him, is able to so manfully bear up under 
a combination of ills which it would seem impossible 
for human nature to withstand." 

The day wore anxiously away. The physicians had 
come to the conclusion that there was no hope, and 
that the patient might die at any moment. Even the 
stout-hearted Dr. Bliss would only say, " Hope is only 
buried in the grave." A correspondent, writing during 
the day, said : 

" While news is scarce to-day since morning the 
suspense is none the less terrible. Dr. Agnew said this 
afternoon that the case was hopeless — at least he had 
no hope. This was in some way communicated to 
MoUie Garfield, and she went into the sick-room by 
permission to embrace her dying father. As she at- 
tempted to leave the room she fell in a dead foint 
across the threshold, cutting open her face and causing 
a great sensation among the household. Dr. Agnew 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 681 

attended lier iind assisted her away. The President's 
pulse during the day has been fitful and changing, run- 
ning from 102 to 140, while his temperature has been 
near or below the normal." 

The last official bulletin of the day was issued at 6 
p. M.. and stated the President's condition as follows : 

" 6 P. M. — Though the gravity of the President's con- 
dition continues, there has been no aggravation of 
symptoms since the noon bulletin was issued. He has 
slept most of the time, coughing but little and with 
ease. The sputa remains unchanged. A sufficient 
amount of nourishment has been taken and retained. 
Temperature, 98.4 ; pulse, 102 ; respiration, 18." 

As the night deepened, the President fell into a 
quiet slumber, and the usual preparations for attend- 
ance upon him during the night were made. They 
were the last that were to be needed, for at 35 minutes 
after 10 o'clock, the brave stru2:gle was brouoht to a 
sudden end, and the great soul of James A. Garfield 
passed into eternity. 

When the President passed away there were eleven 
persons in the room, which is by no means large and 
must therefore have seemed crowded. The narrow 
surcfical bed was in the centre of the room, with the 
head toward the south. It had a white counterpane 
on it and the pillow was not high. The gas from one 
of the side brackets which had been low, was turned 
up so that everything was in light. Colonel Rockwell, 
tall and military-looking, with large features and a 
moustache just turning gray, stood at one corner of the 
head of the bed, and General Swaim, short and stout 



682 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

and robust in appearance, stood at the other. Dr. 
Bliss stood on the right-hand side of the bed near the 
President's head, ahnost touching Colonel Rockwell, 
and Mrs. Garfield's position was immediately opposite, 
on the lei't-hand side, very near to General Swaim. 
Dr. Agnew was also on the right-hand side, a little be- 
low Dr. Bliss. Mrs. Rockwell was at the foot of the 
bed, a little to the left, and Master Rockwell stood a 
little at her back. Mollie Garfield, with her face in 
her pocket handkerchief, and w^ith Lulu Rockwell's 
arm around her waist, stood on the hne between the 
right-hand corner of the foot of the bed and the north- 
eastern angle of the room, which contains a high 
dresser over a large old-fashioned fireplace. Private 
Secretary Brown stood on the line of the foot of the 
bed, back towards the wall, and the colored waiter 
stood in the doorway, which is in the northwest corner. 
Everything was to some extent duplicated by reflec- 
tion in the plate-glass mirror-door of a wardrobe, a 
little at one side from the southwest angle of the room. 
The ladies in the room had hastily dressed and wore 
wraps thrown loosely across their shoulders. Every 
one was standing up, and, with the exception of Mollie 
Garfield, for a time every one's gaze was fastened on 
the patient's face, watching the shadows steal across 
it. No word was spoken until Dr. Bliss, after stooping 
dowai and feeling for the pulse, and placing his ear 
against the heart, crossed the hands on tho then in- 
{inimate breast, arose, lifted his right hand, pointing 
upward as towards a spirit that had taken flight, and 
turning his back upon the bed stood with folded arms. 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 683 

As Mrs. Garfield dropped upon her knees by the bed- 
side every one withdrew, leaving her and her daughter 
there alone. 

Judge-Advocate-General Swaim, who was the Presi- 
dent's faithful and devoted friend and nurse, thus de- 
scribes the last scene : 

" It was my night to watch with the President. 1 
had been with him a good deal of the time from three 
o'clock in the afternoon. A few minutes before ten 
o'clock I left Colonel Rockwell, with whom I had been 
talking for some minutes in the lower hail, and pro- 
ceeded up-stairs to the President's room. On entering 
I found Mrs. Garfield sitting by his bedside. There 
were no other persons in the room. 1 said to her: 
'How is everything going?' She re[)lied : 'He is 
sleeping nicely.' I then said : ' I think }ou had better 
go to bed and rest.' I asked her what had been pre- 
scribed for him to take during the night. She replied 
that she did not know; that she had given him milk 
punch at eight o'clock. I then said, ' If you will wait 
a moment I will iro into the doctors' room and see what 
is to be given durins: the ni^ht.' She then said, 'There 
is beef-tea downi-stairs.' I found Dr. Bliss in the doc- 
tors' room and a.sked what was to be given during the 
night. He answered that he would fix up a list and 
give it to me soon. I then went and had a little con- 
versation with Mrs. Garfield, who laid her hnnd on the 
President's forehead and said he seemed to be in gcx)d 
condition and passed out of the room. I immediately 
felt his hands, feet and knees. I thought that his 
knees seemed a little cool, and I got a flannel cloth, 



684 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

heated it at the fire, and laid it over his limbs. I also 
heated another cloth and laid it over his right hand. 
At this moment Dr. Boynton came in and felt the 
President's pulse and said that it was not as strong as 
it was in the afternoon, but very good. The doctor 
also thought he was doing well. Tiie doctor then left 
the room. 

" Shortly after this the President awoke. I took 
hold of his hand and remarked : ' You have had a nice, 
comfortable sleep.' He then said : ' Oh, Swaim, this 
terrible pain,' placing his right hand on his breast, 
over his heait. tie asked for some water, which I 
gave him. He took the glass in his hand, I raising 
his head as usual, and drank the water very naturally. 
I then handed the glass to the colored man, Daniel, 
who had just come in. I took a napkin and wiped his 
forehead, as he usually perspired on awakening. He 
then said : ' Oh, Swaim, this terrible pain. Press your 
hand on it.' I laid my hand on his chest. He then 
threw both hands up to the side and about on a line 
with his head and exclaimed : ' Oh, Swaim, can't you 
stop this?' And again, 'Oh, Swaim.' I then saw him 
looking at me with a staring expression. I asked him 
if he was suffering much pain. Receiving no answer I 
repeated the question with like result. I then con- 
cluded that he was either dying or was having a severe 
spasm and called to Daniel, who was at the door, to 
tell Dr. Bliss and Mrs. Garfield to come in immediately. 
This occurred at ten minutes past ten o'clock. Dr. 
Bliss came in in a few minutes and I asked him if he 
had any stimulants, and told the doctor that he seemed 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELB. 685 

to be dying. The doctor took hold of his wrist and 
felt his pulse and said that he was dying. I then sent 
Daniel to arouse the house. At that moment Colonel 
Rockwell came in, and Dr. Bliss said : ' Let us rub his 
limbs/ which we did. In a very few moments Mrs. 
Garfield came in and said : ' What does this mean ? ' 
and a moment after exclaimed : ^ Oh, why am I made 
to suffer this cruel wrong ! ' At 10.35 p. m. the sacri- 
fice was completed. He breathed his last calmly and 
peacefully." 

Dr. Bliss, speaking of the President's last moments, 
said : " He was not conscious after I arrived. The 
attendants did not fully realize his condition. He had 
spoken to General Swaim only a moment before, and 
the latter could not believe that the end was coming. 
As soon as I entered the room I saw that it would soon 
be over and I exclaimed : ' My God, Swaim, he is 
dying ! Send for Mrs. Garfield.' He was never con- 
scious after that and did not speak. When I got to 
the sick-room I found the President powerless. His 
heart was slightly fluttering. The apparent cause of 
death was neuralgia of the heart, of which we had had 
symptoms before in the history of the case. It was 
most probably embolism. He suffered acute pain for a 
moment. After that his death was painless. He was 
awakened by the attack. Private Secretary Brown 
watched with the remains. He says Mrs. Garfield ex- 
hibits great calmness and fortitude. There was a 
report that she fainted once during the night. This 
Mr. Brown denies, saying: 'Mrs. Garfield is not a 
woman who faints.'" 



686 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

The President's body was left in the charge of his 
family during the night; Mrs. Garfield keeping her 
sad viofil over the beloved remains. 

Immediately upon the death of the President the 
members of the Cabinet present at Long Branch tele- 
graphed the sad news to Vice-President Arthur, at 
New York, requesting him to take the oath of office 
as President of the United States, and to repair to 
Long Branch at the earliest possible moment. To 
this the Vice-President replied that he would comply 
with their wishes. 

The news of the President's death was communi- 
cated to the press correspondents by Attorney-General 
MacVeagh, and was by them at once telegraphed to 
all parts of the country, so that by 11 o'clock, or shortly 
after, it was known throughout the United States. It 
was everywhere received with expressions of the pro- 
foundest sorrow, and in all the cities, towns, and vil- 
lages of the Union, the midnight air was sadly musical 
with the deep booming of tolling bells. All through 
the night the streets continued full of crowds, and 
when the morning of the 20th dawned, business edi- 
fices, public buildings, and private residences were 
draped heavily in mourning, thus mutely testifying to 
the nation's grief. Public meetings were held in 
various parts of the country, official bodies and learned 
societies met, and resolutions of sorrow and sympathy 
were adopted. In every manner in which the grief of 
the nation could be shown, it was testified in the most 
earnest way. Nor did these expressions of grief come 
from the United States alone. From all parts of the 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. o87 

civilized world messages of condolence were received 
from sovereigns and rulers, municipal authorities, dis- 
tinijuished men, cities, corporations, and others, all 
showing the strong hold the martyred President had 
gained ""upon the respect of the world. The Queen of 
England, whose womanly sympathy we have elsewhere 
noticed, sent the following message, which was one of 
the earliest to arrive, to Mrs. Garfield in person : 

" Words cannot express the deep sympathy I feel 
with you at this terrible moment. May God support 
and comfort you as He alone can." 

The news of the President's death was also tele- 
crraphed to his mother. The aged lady was staying at 
the time at the house of her son-in-law, Mr. M. G. Lar- 
abee, of Solon, Ohio. The Cleveland Leader thus de- 
scribes the receipt of the news : 

"Mr. Larabee and family had retired to rest on 

Monday evening, feeling there was but little hope that 

the morning could bring favorable news. Early this 

morning a messenger came in hot haste, bearing the 

tele-ram that told the sad tale. Mother Garfield was 

not "awake, and it was at once concluded to await untL 

she had arisen and taken her breakfast before tellmc 

her that' her bov, the pride of her life, had gone hom( 

to his Maker. The rest of the relatives were mformec 

and then the query arose, "Who will break the new 

to mother?' Mrs. Larabee's sister, Mary, was fiim Ij 

chosen to impart the sad tidings, but her heart faile( 

her. About 8 o'clock Mrs. Garfield arose and aft€ 

dressing spent some tim.e in reading her Bible, as i 

her custom. Then she went into the dinmg-rooir 



688 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

where her breakfast was awaiting her. Refreshed by 
a night of rest she was more cheerful than she had 
been for several days. Mr. Larabee, unable to conceal 
his emotion, left the room. Finally the old lady turned 
to her daughter Mary, saying : 

" Is there any news yet this morning, Mary?" 

Mrs. Larabee's heart failed. She could not blast 
the hopes expressed in that voice and exhibited in that 
dear old face. 

" Eat your breakfast, mother," she said. 

" But I want to hear from my James first," said the 
loving mother. 

The telegram that was so soon to bring grief and 
anguish to her hopeful mother lay on the shelf, and 
seeing it, she took it and was about to read it, saying : 
" Here it is now. I must read it before I eat." Her 
granddaughter, Ellen Larabee, fearing that so sudden 
a shock would be fatal, took the despatch from her 
hand and said : 

" I will read it to you, grandma. Are you prepared 
for — for — bad news?" 

" Why, no," said grandma ; " I am not prepared for 
bad news, and there isn't any bad news this morning, 
is there?" 

" Yes, grandma." 

" Oh, Nellie, he is not — he cannot be dead ? " 

" Grandma, his spirit passed away last night." 

*' Oh, it cannot be. It must not be. I cannot have 
it so. My James, my James dead. No, I cannot be- 
lieve you ; let me see the despatch." 

She read it and then that grand old heart broke. 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 689 

Dropping the white paper, which fell to the floor, its 
terrible mission performed, she fell backwards into a 
chair moaning and wnnging her hands, while the bitter 
tears coursed down her pale cheeks. 

There was an agony that speech cannot express oi 
pen portray, a mother in Israel weeping for her son 
who was not, and refused to be comforted. The boy 
who had been her hope and pride, the idol of her heart, 
was dead. To-morrow will be her eightieth birthday 
and it will be a sad day to her. With tearful eyes she 
said : 

" To-morrow I will be eighty years old, but I will not 
see the beginning of another year. James has gone 
and I shall not be long after him." 

She succeeded in composing herself somewhat after 
the first shock had passed off, but all day long an occa- 
sional sob would convulse her loving heart and she 
would repeat the sentence : '" He is gone ; he is gone ! 
Oh! I cannot have it so." 

At Mentor a similar scene was enacted. The family 
had been apprised of the President's death at about 
twelve o'clock by Dr. J. P. Robinson, who received a 
telegram from Mary Herrick, of Cleveland, about 11.30. 
Rudolph, Mrs. Garfield's father, Joseph Rudolph, her 
brother, his wife and the President's two little sons, 
Irving and Abram, and their governess, Mrs. McGraff, 
were at the residence when Dr. Robinson, with an 
outburst of sobs, told Joseph that James was dead. 
The former grasped Robinson's hand, and with white 
lips and eyes moistened with tears replied in a calm 
voice : 

44 



690 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

"I am not disappointed; we expected it, doctor." 
Only Joseph, his wife and father Rudolph were in- 
formed of his death at that time. The citizens of 
Mentor were sleeping quietly, in hope that their re- 
vered neighbor was in no immediate danger. 

Tuesday, September 20th, was passed at Elberon in 
making arrangements for the transfer of the body to 
Washington City, from which it had been decided the 
funeral should take place. On the same day an autopsy 
was held upon the body by the surgeons who had been 
in attendance upon the President, assisted by several 
others. The following is their official statement of the 
causes of the President's death : 

" By previous arrangement a post-mortem examina- 
tion of the body of President Garfield was made this 
afternoon, in the presence and with the assistance of 
l5rs. Hamilton, Agnew, Bliss, Barnes, Woodward, Rey- 
burn, Andrew H. Smith, of Elberon, and Acting- 
Assistant Surgeon D. S. Lamb, of the Army Medical 
Museum, Washington. The operation was performed 
by Dr. Lamb. It was found that the ball, after fractur- 
ing the right eleventh rib, had passed through the 
spinal column in front of the spinal canal, fracturing 
the body of the first lumbar vertebra, driving a num- 
ber of small fragments of bone into the adjacent soft 
parts and lodging below the pancreas about two inches 
and a half to the left of the spine and behind the 
peritoneum, where it had become completely encysted. 
The immediate cause of death was secondary hemor- 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 691 

rhage from one of the mesenteric arteries adjoining the 
track of the ball, the blood rupturing the peritoneum 
and nearly a pint escaping into the abdominal cavity. 
This hemorrhage is believed to have been the cause of 
the severe pain in the lower part of the chest com- 
plained of just before death. 

"An abscess cavity, six inches by four in dimensions, 
was found in the vicinity of the gall bladder, between 
the liver and the transverse colon, which were strongly 
adherent. It did not involve the substance of the liver 
and no communication was found between it and the 
wound. A long suppurating channel extended from 
the external wound, between the loin muscles and the 
right kidney, almost to the right groin. This channel, 
now known to be due to the burrowing of pus from the 
wound, was supposed during life to have been the track 
of the ball. 

" On an examination of the organs of the chest evi- 
dences of severe bronchitis were found on both sides, 
with broncho-pneumonia of the lower portions of the 
right lung, and, though to a much less extent, of the 
left. The lungs contained no abscesses and the heart 
no clots. The liver was enlarged and fatty, but free 
from abscesses. Nor were any found in any other 
organ except the left kidney, which contained near its 
surface a small abscess about one-third of an inch in 
diameter. 

"In reviewing the history of the case in connection 
with the autopsy it is quite evident that the different 
suppurating surfaces, and especially the fractured. 



692 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

spongy tissue of the vertebra, furnish a sufficient ex- 
planation of the septic condition which existed. 

D. W. Bliss, 
J. K. Barnes, 
J. J. Woodward, 
Robert Reyburn, 
Frank H. Hamilton, 
D. Hayes Agnew, 
Andrew H. Smith, 
D. S. Lamb. 

The arrangements for the funeral were prepared 
under the supervision of the Attorney-General, Hon. 
Wayne MacVeagh. It was decided to leave Elberon 
on the morning of the 21st, on the special train that 
had brought the President and his family to Long 
Branch. Upon reaching Washington the remains were 
to be conducted to the Capitol, where they were to lie 
in state in the rotunda until the 23d, when the same 
special train would convey them direct to Cleveland, 
Ohio, there to remain in state until Monday, the 2Gth, 
when they would be buried in Lake View Cemetery, 
the spot chosen for the interment. 

The morning of the 21st saw the people of Elberon 
and its vicinity astir at an early hour. They came 
from every direction and in all sorts of vehicles. There 
must have been two thousand of them by 8.30, when 
the doors were opened, and a more quiet, orderly con- 
erreo-ation never took a farewell look at mortal remains. 
Two lines of artillerymen reached from the Elberon 
porch to the driveway under the Frank lyn Cottage, but 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 693 

they were far enough apart to allow the crowd to pass 
comfortably along. The body lay on a bier in the 
parlor, and the entrance was made through the driveway 
by turning to the right and, after passing the remains, 
turning to the left and going out the great door in the 
east front. The church bells tolled meanwhile and the 
occasion was an exceedingly impressive one. Two 
sentries stood at the entrance of the parlor in order to 
see that there was no pushing and that but one person 
went in at a time. Nobody was allowed to stop, but 
simply glanced at the face of the dead President on the 
way through the room. A soldier stood at the foot 
and another at the head of the casket. The casket 
was a massive one, but unpretentious in appearance. 
It was covered with a rich black cloth, and with the 
exception of heavy silver mountings was entirely plain. 
It had a satin lining across the top, and from the foot 
of the casket upwards extended two long sago palm 
leaves. On the lid was a silver plate containing the 
following inscription : 

JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD, 
Born November 19, 1831. 
Died, President of tlie United States, September 19, 1881. \ 

In the corridor forming the background of the room 
stood General Swaim, with Harry Garfield on his right 
and Colonel Rockwell on his left. They stood almost 
motionless, save at intervals when some lady — and 
there were many such in the groups that crowded into 
the cottage — would be overcome by her feelings. Young 
Harry could not witness these repeated expressions of 



694 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

sorrow and sympathy without emotion, and he would 
look into the face of General Swaim, while tears, that 
he in vain tried to repress, trickled down his cheeks. 
In spite of General Swaim's frequent whispers to him 
to remain firm he was unable to control himself, and 
his deep distress attracted general attention as the 
crowd moved by. It was not known, except to the 
immediate friends of the family, that he stood there at 
the request of his mother, and that unseen she was 
pouring forth her grief. Colonel Rockwell stood almost 
immovable as a statue, pale, resolute and cool. C. 0. 
Rockwell, brother-in-law of Mrs. Garfield, sat behind 
in company with Dr. Boynton. At the end of half an 
hour the casket was closed, preparatory to the funeral 
services, and those who arrived after that time were 
not permitted to enter. 

At half-past nine Chief-Justice Waite, Secretary and 
Mrs. Blaine, Secretary and Mrs. Windom, Secretary 
and Mrs. Hunt, Postmaster-General and Mrs. James, 
and Secretaries Lincoln, Kirkwood and Attorney-Gen- 
eral MacVeagh arrived at the cottage. There were 
present, besides the family and attendants, the members 
of the Cabinet and their wives and a few personal 
friends, not more than fifty in all. When the time 
for the solemnities was announced, the doors and win- 
dows were closed and all sounds were hushed. The 
services were conducted, at Mrs. Garfield's request, by 
the Rev. Charles J. Young, the pastor of the Reformed 
Church at Long Branch. As it was necessary to be 
prompt at the depot, only five minutes could be occu- 
pied by the clergyman. Mr. Young read a few apprO' 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 695 

priate passages from the Scriptures relating to death 
and resurrection, and then ofiered a touching prayer. 

As soon as the prayer was ended Mrs. Garfield, 
heavily veiled, accompanied by her son Harry, passed 
from the cottage to the train and entered the first 
coach. She exhibited the same fortitude which has 
been so characteristic all through tli^ese trying weeks. 
Miss MoUie Garfield and Miss Rockwell, Colonel 
Swaim, Colonel and Mrs. Rockwell, Dr. Boynton and 
C. 0. Rockwell also entered the first coach. The 
members of the Cabinet and their wives took seats in 
the second coach. The following persons comprised 
the rest of the party on the train : Private Secretary 
J. Stanley Brown, Executive Clerk Warren S. Young, 
John K. Van Warmer, Chief Clerk Post Office Depart- 
ment ; John Jameson, Railway Mail Service ; Ridgley 
Hunt, son of the Secretary of the Navy ; C. F. James, 
son of the Postmaster General ; Mr. Jay Stone, private 
secretary to Secretary Lincoln ; Ex-Sheriff Daggett, of 
Brooklyn ; Colonel H. C. Corbin and Messrs. Atchison, 
Rickard and the other attendants upon the late Presi- 
dent and Mrs. Garfield during the sojourn here. 

The casket was carried from tha cottage by six 
strong men, passing through a guard of soldiers formed 
in parallel lines. It was placed in the third coach. 
There were five hundred people who stood at a respect- 
ful distance watching the procession. The train stopped 
on the track about a quarter of a mile above Elberoii 
Station and directly in front of the cottage. To this 
point the special train which brought President Arthur 
and General Grant from New York was run. These 



696 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

gentlemen left their train and took seats in the second 
car of the funeral train. Just before the start Governor 
Ludlow, of New Jersey, accompanied by a number of 
iminor State officials and members of the Legislature, 
arrived on the scene and stood with uncovered heads 
as the train moved oif. 

The train left Elberon at 10 o'clock A. M., and 
reached Washington at 4.35 p. m. 

As the train slowly rolled into the depot everybody 
upon the platform was uncovered, and a stillness as of 
the grave pervaded the vast throng upon the outside. 
Soon Mrs. Garfield, assisted by Secretary Blaine, de- 
scended from the car, and taking his arm upon her right 
and that of her son Harry upon her left, she walked di- 
rectly to the carriage in waiting. Her face was com- 
pletely concealed by a heavy black veil, which hung 
nearly to the ground, and whatever emotions she may 
have experienced were sacred from the sight of those 
who gazed upon her as the central figure in that sad 
pageant. She entered the state carriage, and was fol- 
lowed by her daughter MolMe, her son Harry, Mrs. 
Rockwell and Miss Rockwell. The others of the Presi- 
dential party were : President Arthur, who leaned upon 
the arm of Senator Jones, of Nevada; General Grant 
and General Beale, General Swaim and Mrs. Swaim, 
Colonel Rockwell, Colonel Corbin, Dr. Bliss and daugh- 
ter. Dr. Boynton, Dr. Agnew, Dr. Hamilton, Attorney- 
General MacVeagh, wife and two sons. Secretary and 
Mrs. Hunt, Secretary and Mrs. Lincoln and son, Post- 
master General and Mrs. James and Secretary Kirk- 
wood. The first three carriages received the ladies of 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 697 

the party, who did not accompany the procession to the 
Capitol. After they had moved on a short distance 
IVom the entrance the casket appeared, borne on the 
shoulders of eight soldiers of the Second Artillery, de- 
tailed from the Arsenal barracks ; on the right in a sin- 
gle file and headed by Adjutant-General Drum were the 
officers of the army, and upon the left the officers of the 
navy, under the lead of Rear-Ad miral Nichols. As the 
casket was borne to the hearse the Marine Band, sta- 
tioned across the street, played " Nearer, my God, to 
Thee," while every head was bowed and many eyes 
were dimmed. The sad strains of the sweetly familiar 
hymn, the hush that had fallen upon the scene and the 
grief mirrored on thousands of faces marked the picture 
with shadings that years cannot effiice from the memory 
of those who stood about the bier of the dead President. 
After the casket had been placed in the hearse, the 
remainder of the party entered their carriages and took 
place in the procession. The hearse used was furnished 
by Undertaker Speare, of Washington, and is known as 
the Centennial hearse — it having been awarded the 
prize at the Centennial Exhibition. It was draped in 
black, of rich and heavy material, wholly unrelieved by 
any other color, and was drawn by six iron-gray horses, 
whose trappings were also draped in sombre black. 
President Arthur's carriage followed immediately after 
the hearse, and in it were President Arthur, Secretary 
Blaine, Chief-Justice Waite and Secretary Windom. 
The carriage containing Mrs. Garfield and daughter was 
driven down Pennsylvania avenue to Four-and-a-Half 
street, and thence to the residence of Attorney-General 



698 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

MacVeagh, whose guest she was during her stay in 
that city. As soon as the last of the Presidential party 
had entered their carriages the signal was given by the 
bugle, and the military escort formed in line and the 
mournful procession started on its way to the Capitol in 
the following order : 

Platoon of Mounted Police. 

General Ayres and Mounted Staff. 

"Washington Light Infantry and Band. 

Union Veteran Corps. 

National Rifles. 

Washington Light Guard. 

Capitol City Guard. 

United States Marine Band and Drum Corps, 50 men. 

Detachment of United States Marines. 

Second United States Artillery Band. 

Four Comjxinies of Heavy Artillery and One Light Battery. 

Washington and Columbia Commanderies of Kniglits Templar. 

Then followed the hearse, flanked on either side by a 
single line of army and navy officers, among them 
being General Sherman and Generals Drum, Meigs, 
Sackett, Poe, Dodge, McKeever, Ruggles, Breck, Colo- 
nel Barr, and about fifty others of the army, and Rear- 
Admiral Nichols, Commodores English and Sicard, Pay 
Director Tooker, Captain DeKraft and Captain C. H. 
Wells, Commanders Howell, Manly, Howeson, Law, 
Lieutenants Schreeder, Belden, Wainwright, Bartlett, 
Spechton and Sebree, and about fifty others. After the 
hearse came the carriage of President Arthur, with a 
mounted policeman upon either side, and following it a 
half dozen other carriages with the members of the 
Cabinet and others who had accompanied the remains 
from Elberon. A platoon of mounted police brought 
up the rear. 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 699 

With muffled drums and solemn funeral dirge the 
procession moved slowly up the avenue. A dense mass 
lined the sidewalks all the way from Sixth street to the 
east front of the Capitol, and along this portion of the 
route the crowd was apparently as great as upon the 
occasion of the late President's inaugural procession. 
The comparison between the two occasions was doubt- 
loss in many minds, and numerous expressions of sor- 
row were made 3,t the sad contrast. As the procession 
moved up the avenue scarcely a sound was heard save 
that from the feet of moving men and horses. Hats 
were removed and heads were bowed as by a common 
impulse of deep and unfeigned grief as the procession 
moved on toward the Capitol. Here at the east front 
of the building a vast assemblage had congregated to 
view the funeral cortege. At the foot of the steps there 
was a double file of Senators and Representatives, 
headed by their respective officers, waiting in respectful 
silence to escort the remains into the rotunda. 

At precisely 5.10 the head of the sad procession, 
moving around the south side of the Capitol, arrived at 
the east front, the arms of the military being reversed 
and the bands playing the Dead March. The order 
was then given to carry arms, and the troops came to 
a front fice, while amid the muffled beat of the drums 
the hearse and its attendant train of carriages drew 
slowly up in front of the escort. A hush came over 
the multitude, and heads were reverently uncovered as 
the casket was carefully lifted from the hearse. -The 
officers of the army and navy drew up in parallel lines 
on either side of the hearse, and the Marine Band 



700 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

played again, with much sentiment, " Nearer, my God, 
to Thee," as with solemn tread the remains of Presi- 
dent Garfield were bo-me into the rotunda and placed 
upon the catafalque, the Senators and Representatives 
preceding and ranging themselves on each side of the 
dais. Close behind the casket walked President Arthur 
and Secretary Blaine, who were followed by Chief- 
Justice Waite and Secretary Windom, General Grant 
and Secretary Hunt, Secretary Lincoln and Attorney- 
General MacVeagh, Secretary Kirk wood and Post- 
master-General James, Colonel Kockwell and General 
Swaim, and Colonel Corbin and Private Secretary 
Brown. 

At 5.35 the lid of the casket was opened and the 
face of the late President was exposed to view. Noise- 
lessly President Arthur and Secretary'' Blaine ap- 
proached and gazed upon the face of the dead, and then 
slowly and sadly passed out of the hall. A line was 
formed by Sergeant-at-Arms Bright, and one by one 
those present advanced and glanced at the emaciated 
and discolored face of the dead President. The public 
at large were then admitted, and hundreds of persons 
testified by their reverential conduct and mournful 
countenances the sorrow which they experienced in 
looking upon the features of their murdered President. 

The catafalque, upon which the coffin of the Presi- 
dent was placed, is thus described by an eye-witness: 

" The catafalque stands in the centre of the rotunda. 
About six inches from the stone floor there is a 23lat- 
form covered with black velvet. Upon it rests the 
structure which contairns the coffin. It also is heavily 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 701 

draped with black velvet and silk, and a silver rim is 
at the head and foot. The catafalque, upon comple- 
tion this morning, was covered with the American flag. 
It is the same bier upon which rested the remains of 
President Lincoln, Chief-Justice Chase, Senator Sum- 
ner and Thaddeus Stevens. The surroundings are 
decorated in good taste. Looking from the catafalque 
each of the four entrances is hung heavy with black. 
There is a rosette in the middle of these hangings and 
one at either side. The large pictures which hang on 
the walls around are draped with rosettes and pendants 
of black cloth. On the cornices above the pictures 
there is a repetition of the black pendants and rosettes. 
The first row of big windows above the cornice are in 
black, also the balustrade below, which constitutes the 
first inside balcony. Above that there are no decora- 
tions. The House and Senate chambers are in black 
and all of the many corridors and approaches thereto 
are hung along the walls in black, with rosettes and 
crossed drapings over each archway. 

The catafalque thus described was placed in the cen- 
tre of the rotunda, the vast circular hall which lies 
under the dome of the Capitol. This was a blaze of 
light. During the night a guard of honor, composed 
of officers of the Army of the Cumberland, kept watch 
over the dead President. All through the night the 
people poured through the rotunda, to gaze upon the 
face of their martyred chieftain, and until half-past six 
on the afternoon of the 22d, they came in a steady 
throng. It is estimated that over 100,000 persons thus 
viewed the remains. They comprised both sexes, all 



702 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

ages and conditions, from the new President down to 
the humblest neorro. Late in the afternoon it was dis- 
covered that the body of President Garfield was begin- 
ning to decompose. As it was the wish of Mrs. Gar- 
field that in such an event, the features of her husband 
should no longer be exposed to view. Secretary Blaine, 
about half-past six in the afternoon, ordered the coffin 
to be closed. Still the vast throngs continued to pour 
through the rotunda, merely to take a last view of the 
casket which enshrined their martyred President. 
This continued until a quarter-past eleven on the 
morning of the 23d. 

Precisely as the clock struck that hour, the doors 
of the rotunda were closed, and the public excluded 
from the hall. This was the hour designated for the 
ftimily of President Garfield to take their last look at 
him. As soon as the rotunda had been closed, the 
family party entered. It consisted of Mrs. Garfield, 
who entered leaning on the arm of General Swaim. 
Sergeant-at-Arms Bright preceded the two. Then fol- 
lowed Harry Garfield, supporting his sister, Mollie, and 
his cousin, Miss Rockwell. Colonel and Mrs. Rockwell 
were directly behind, while Attorney-General Mac- 
Veagh and Mrs. Swaim concluded the list. As they 
filed through, the rotunda door from the north closed 
behind them. No one else was admitted. Mrs. Gar- 
field was dressed in the same mourning garments she 
wore from Elberon. Realizing as she entered the 
rotunda that they were alone she seemed to throw off 
her timid, hesitating air, and with a quick, nervous 
gesture she cast aside her heavy veil. The face thus 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 703 

disclosed was pale, but no paler than it has appeared 
for some time past. Her eyes, always bright and clear, 
showed no evidence of recent weeping. On the con- 
trary, they shone with a brighter lustre, as if the con- 
sciousness of being alone with her dead gave to her 
an added courage and strength. Of the two Mrs. 
Rockwell showed the greater evidence of mental and 
physical depression. Her head was bowed and her 
general mien was that of one struggling under a load 
greater than she could bear. Harry Garfield, too, 
looked broken, while Miss Mollie's face was pitifully 
pale and sad. 

Within a few feet of the catafalque Mrs. Garfield 
paused and bowed her head as if in prayer. The chil- 
dren and others advanced to the casket. The face 
which, owing to decomposition, was hidden from view 
through the day, was disclosed for their benefit. But, 
oh, how changed ! The features, once so manly and 
strong, were pinched and worn. The face was terribly 
discolored, and none but the eyes of love could discover 
in its lineaments aught that looked familiar. Harry, 
who was the first to approach, gazed for a moment at 
the inanimate form, then bending forward he gravely 
imprinted a kiss on the wrinkled brow ; then placing 
his kerchief to his face walked sadly away. Miss 
MoUie displayed greater emotion. Throwing one arm 
lovingly over the casket, as if to embrace it, she ex- 
claimed, " Oh, papa, papa." She then kissed the face 
repeatedly, her graceful form trembling with grief, 
until gently removed by Mrs. Rockwell. After the 
others had paid their last tribute of respect, they all 



r04 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

withdrew and Mrs. Garfield was alone with the dead. 
What thoughts must have filled her mind as she stood 
beside that bier ! Doubtless she recalled his early 
struggles to attain an education, while battling man- 
fully to gain the necessaries of life, their youthful mar- 
riage and happy home life, the birth of their children, 
his honored career as a soldier and statesman and this 
— this was the end of all his greatness. At the expira- 
tion of twenty minutes she joined her friends in the 
corridor. Her veil was again lowered, her step hesitat- 
ing and slow. In her hand she bore some of the 
flowers that adorned the bier. She entered the car- 
riage and was hastily driven away. Those eyes that 
beheld her to-day will never see her again, for Lucretia 
Garfield has paid her last visit to Washington City. Its 
very presence is hateful to her by reason of the sad 
tragedy that has robbed her of her husband devoted 
and true, and the nation of one of the grandest figures 
in the history of our day. 

Three o'clock was the hour fixed for the funeral 
services. By that time over one hundred thousand 
people surrounded the G^pitol. Long before that time 
those entitled to participate in these services began to 
seek admission. Entrance was by card only, and the 
space assigned to the general public was very limited. 
Seats had been reserved for the few thus honored. 
The remainder of the audience were admitted by 
reason of their official positions. The whole number 
of seats prepared was fifteen hundred. The bulk of 
them were for members of the Cabinet and their ladies, 
the foreign legations, officers of the army and navy, 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD, 705 

Senators and members of the House of Representatives 
and of the press. The rotunda was divided into four 
sections of seats. The division was made by the lines 
of entrance from each of the four doors. The seats 
back of the first row circling around the catafalque 
were chairs. The first row of the circle, only broken 
by the aisles of entrance, was made up of sofas, with a 
leather chair here and there. The row was devoted 
to the use of the representatives of the President's 
family and the Cabinet officers. From the west the first 
three rows of chairs in the semi-circle were reserved for 
the members of the House. The first three rows to the 
left were reserved for the members of the Senate. The 
diameter of the circle enclosed by the first row of seats 
and in the centre of which stood the catafalque was 
about thirty feet. At the head of the coffin was raised 
a small platform about one foot high. It was covered 
with black. Upon this platform was a small table 
with black covering for the use of the officiating 
minister. The seats south of the catafalque were 
placed for Mrs. Garfield's immediate friends — General 
Swaim, Colonel Rockwell, Mrs. and Miss Rockwell 
and others. On the north side of the catafalque the 
front row of seats was reserved for tl^ President, ex- 
Presidents Grant and Hayes, and the Cabinet and their 
families. The second row on that side was occapied 
by the Senators and their wives. Back of the Senators 
sat the Diplomatic Corps and back of them the Army 
of the Cumberland, leaving about eight rows of 
chairs still farther back on that side for the general 
public. 

45 



706 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

The first arrival in body was the Beauseant Com- 
mandery of Knights Templar from Baltimore. They 
marched in, took a position surrounding the corpse and 
performed what is known as the silent service of the 
order. They then marched out of the rotunda. The 
chief object of their visit to the coffin was to deposit 
a floral offering. The rotunda filled up slowly, not- 
withstanding the immense throng that had surrounded 
the Capitol. The coffin and catafalque remained as 
on the previous day, but the floral ofierings had been 
rearrancred to the srreatest advantasre. 

About two o'clock the survivors of the Army of the 
Cumberland, wearing white badges on their breasts and 
crape on the left arm, filed into the rotunda by the door 
leading from the Senate side and took the seats spe- 
cially provided for them. Ropes had been stretched 
on the outside of the Capitol to keep back the pressure 
of the crowds, and by this means the doorkeepers were 
enabled to perform their duty in the way of taking 
tickets without being overrun. This accounted for the 
gradual filUng of the hall. The Diplomatic Corps 
formed in nrocession in the Senate winsr and entered 
the rotunda, headed bv Chin Lan Pin and the Chinese 
delegation. Among the diplomats were Chin Lan Pin, 
■ Aristarchi Bey, Victor Drummond, the Spanish Minis- 
ter, the Charge d' Affaires of Germany, the Russian 
Minister, two secretaries of the Russian legation, tlie 
Brazilian Minister and secretary and about twenty 
others. The corps was in full uniform. As their 
uniforms are gaudy and rich they made the spot where 
they sat readily distinguishable and one that caught 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 707 

the eye at once. The officers of the army and navy 
sat in groups. They were as a rule unaccompanied by 
ladies, though there was a sprinkling of womankind. 
All the employes of the White House were present. 
They came in together, accompanied by the ladies of 
their families. All the seats in the circular space were 
occupied by three o'clock. 

It was half-past two when the pall-bearers, who were 
selected by Mrs. Garfield from the members of their 
little church on Vermont avenue, entered and took 
their seats. They were followed by the Judges of the 
Supreme Court, Colonel Corbin, Dr. Boynton, Private 
Secretary Brown and the other White House people, 
with their ladies. A few minutes later the Philhar- 
monic Society, to the number of twenty-five or thirty, 
came in, standing near the bier. Then came the mem- 
bers of the House and next the Senators, by their 
respective doors, and these were immediately followed 
by a delegation from Philadelphia. The greatest in- 
terest was apparently awakened when General Grant 
and ex-President Hayes entered. They came from 
the Senate side arm in arm, and as they entered the 
entire audience rose to their feet. Following the dis- 
tinguished pair came President Arthur, leaning on the 
arm of his Secretary of State. They took the right 
of the front row of chairs and sofas, Mr. Arthur 
being next to the ministers and the coffin. He was 
dressed with faultless taste in plain black, with black 
scarf and pin and black kids, and cai:ried his black 
silk hat in his right hand, his left being upon Blaine's 
arm. 



708 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

At three o'clock every seat was filled and all avail- 
able standing room was occupied. The funeral cere- 
monies began exactly at three o'clock and were very 
impressive. The ceremonies were opened with the 
hymn, "Asleep in Jesus," beautifully rendered by the 
volunteer choir. Rev. Dr. Rankin then ascended the 
raised platform at the head of the catafalque and read 
in a clear, distinct voice a number of selections from 
the Scriptures, which were listened to with breathless 
attention. Rev. Dr. Isaac Errett then offered an im- 
pressive prayer. As the closing words of the prayer 
died away, the Rev. T. D. Power, of the Vermont 
avenue Christian Church, of which President Garfield 
was a member, delivered a feeling address. He spoke 
in a clear voice and was distinctly heard in every por- 
tion of the hall. His eulogy of the dead President 
was touching. His example, he said, as son, husband 
and father, is a glory to this nation. He had no enemies. 
The hand that struck him was not the hand of his 
enemy, but the enemy of the position, the enemy of the 
country, the enemy of God. At the conclusion of Dr. 
Power's address Rev. J. G. Butler offered prayer and 
the ceremonies were over. 

The ceremonies lasted one hour, and when the last 
prayer was pronounced the army and navy officers com- 
posing the body-guard filed out the east door of the ro- 
tunda and down the steps, taking their places around 
the hearse. Then came the coffin, borne by the pall- 
bearers designated. The immense multitude which had 
stood patiently waiting the termination of the services 
at once uncovered and remained perfectly quiet while 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 709 

the corpse wns carried and placed in the hearse, the 
clergymen, led by the Rev. Mr. Power, following. At 
this stage the scene was one which never could be for- 
gotten. As the coffin was borne slowly down the steps, 
the vast assemblage, which had been waiting for hours 
in the hot sun, uncovered their heads. Miiny women 
snatched off their bonnets, forgetful of appearances and 
only eager to exhibit their respect, for the remains of 
the late President. The bugler on his prancing horse 
beyond blew the attention; the word of command 
passed down the line ; the minute gun to the right 
belched forth its thunder; the Marine Band directly 
opposite struck up : " Nearer, my God, to Thee," and 
the head of the military wheeled into platoon and 
moved on. From the steps above it was a grand sight. 
While the procession moved to permit the carriages to 
approach the curb the distinguished throng waited in 
line upon the steps. It was a collection of intellectual 
and official greatness rarely ever seen together. The 
pall-bearers stood on the asphaltum below. The officers 
of the army and navy — from the young and beardless 
sub-lieutenant to the battle-scarred, grizzled old colonel, 
from youthful ensign to aged admiral — stood about the 
hearse. On the lower step were the officiating clergy- 
men ; then next above the relatives of the family; 
above them the attaches of the White House ; then ex- 
Presidents Grant and Hayes; above them President 
Arthur and Secretary Blaine ; then the Cabinet. The 
Diplomatic Corps, in a blaze of gold and jewels and side 
arms, were still further up, and then the Supreme 
Court, followed by Senators and members of the House 



710 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

— these last upon the portico itself. For twenty min- 
utes they stood thus, silently waiting, until, pair by 
pair, they filled the hundred carriages which had been 
parked below. The procession was not so long, but it 
was a funeral procession and consumed an entire hour 
in reaching the depot, a third of a mile away. Passing 
between the thousands packed densely against the 
ropes, it was a most remarkable and striking journey. 
Every head was uncovered as they passed. Not a 
sound was heard, save the occasional clash of a hoof 
upon the iron tramway and the low funeral dirge of 
the band. 

At the depot the scene was brief, and when the cof- 
fin was borne from the hearse it was quickly ended. 
As the head of the mounted procession rounded the 
Sixth street corner and turned toward the depot, the 
gate leading to the cars was pushed back and twelve 
soldiers issued forth. These were the picked men, wdth 
an officer, who were to accompany the remains to 
Cleveland. At the same time the open gate disclosed 
ten of the most distinguished officers in the military 
and naval service of the United States. They were 
ranged facing each other, the military on the left as we 
enter, the navy on the right. On the one hand were 
Generals Sherman, Sheridan, Hancock, Meigs and 
Drum. On the other were Admirals Rogers and Stan- 
ley, Commodore English, Surgeon-General Wales and 
Pay Director Luther. They were in full regimentals 
and quarter-deck and presented an interesting sight. 
It was only when the gate was sliding back and forth 
that the old heroes in their blue and gold flashed before 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 711 

the crowd which pressed against the ropes outside. 
When the bugler blew a halt the troops formed in line 
on the opposite side of the street, and the hearse and 
following carriage drove up. As the coffin was re- 
moved therefrom the bugle again sounded, the present 
was given, the cannon boomed, the bells of the city 
tolled, the draped colors were dropped and the band 
again played a dirge. The coffin was borne on the 
shoulders of the eight soldiers between the double ranks 
of the army and navy, between the Generals and Ad- 
mirals within, and the pageant was over. The car- 
riages then began to arrive, one after another depositing 
their loads upon the curb. The coffin bore the Queen of 
England's wreath and the crossed palm leaves as it dis- 
appeared from sight. The carriage containing Dr. Boyn- 
ton. Colonel Rockwell, Colonel Corbin, and C. 0. Rock- 
well, landed its load immediately after the preachers. 
Then came the White House attaches, then Grant and 
Hayes, then President Arthur and Secretary Blaine, 
then Secretaries Lincoln and Windom and their wives, 
then Postmaster-General James and Secretary Plunt 
and their wives, Secretary Kirkwood and Gen. Beale 
and Assistant Secretary Hitt and Mrs. Blaine. These 
were followed by Senators and Members and others 
who were going to Cleveland with the remains. The 
legations merely drove past without getting out. The 
Justices of the Supreme Court went with the body. 
In a short time President Arthur returned to his car- 
riage from the depot and was quickly joined by General 
Grant, the two driving away together. 

To avoid the crowd about the depot Mrs. Garfield 



712 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

was taken to the corner of Maine Avenue and Sixth 
street, and an engine and two cars, including the one 
intended for her use, were run down the track, and she 
was taken on board the train without attracting any 
attention. The funeral train was the same used on 
the trip from Long Branch, with two additional cars. 
The first was the baggage car and the second was oc- 
cupied by Mrs. Garfield, her daughter and son, Mrs. 
Eeed, General Swaim, Colonel Rockwell, Dr. Boynton, 
J. Stanley Brown, Warren Young and Mr. Judd. The 
third carried the members of the Cabinet and wives, 
ex-President Hayes, Justices of the Supreme Court and 
S. A. Brown, Chief Clerk of the State Department. 
Upon the fourth car were General Sherman and Gen- 
erals Sheridan, Hancock, Meigs, Drum and Sackett, 
Admiral Porter, Vice-Admiral Rowan, Commodore 
English, Surgeon-General Wales and Pay-Director 
Tucker. The fifth bore the remains of the President 
and the military guard, composed of six soldiers and a 
sergeant from the Second Artillery. The sixth and 
last car of the train was a baggage car. 

The train left Washington at 5.16 p. m., an hour be- 
hind time. It was followed by a second train at 5.24, 
bearing a number of members of the two Houses of 
Congress and other distinguished personages, and was 
known as " the Congressional Train." It kept about 
twenty minutes behind " the Funeral Train " through- 
out the journey. The times of arrival at the following 
places refer to " the Funeral Train." Baltimore was 
reached at 6.30 p. m.; Marysville, Pa. (the junction of 
the Nortnern Cenirai with the Pennsylvania Railway, 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 713 

and a few miles above Harrisburg) at 9.31 p. m. ; Al- 
toona, at 1.35 A. m., on Saturday, 24th ; Pittsburgh, at 
6 A. M. ; Wellsville, at 8.30 A. m. ; and Clevehind, at 
1.30 p. M. on the 24th. 

It was the wish of Mrs. Garfield that the " Funeral 
Train" should stop only at such points as the judg- 
ment of the railway officials should deem necessary. 
This wish was obeyed. She also requested that the 
people along the route should refrain from all demon- 
strations. But the great heart of the nation was too 
deeply moved to allow the people to carry out this course 
of action entirely. All along the route immense crowds 
gathered at the stations. From the moment the " Fu- 
neral Train " left Washington until its arrival at 
Cleveland, it passed through a steady line of people. 
At every station they gathered by the thousands, and 
in the fields and along the tracks they stood with 
heads uncovered until the train, covered with crape, 
whizzed by them. The expressions of grief were uni- 
versal. Hardly a house along the entire route that 
was not covered with emblems of mourning. On every 
hand flags at half-mast and drooping crape told of the 
sorrow in every heart. Whenever the train entered a 
town the church bells tolled, and in many places 
flowers were strewn upon the track. The first great 
demonstration after leaving Washington was at Balti- 
more, where several thousand people gathered and 
reverentially uncovered to the train of mourning. 
Along the line of the Northern Central Railroad to 
Harrisburg great crowds of people gathered at every 
station. The crowds usually remained until the Con- 



714 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

gressional train had also passed. It followed througli- 
out the night about twenty minutes behind the funeral 
train. 

Although the run from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh over 
the Pennsylvania Railroad was made entirely at night 
the crowds were everywhere enormous. It was one 
continual demonstration from beginning to end. The 
funeral train reached Altoona at 1.35 Saturday morn- 
ing. Ten thousand people were assembled at the 
depot. All the church, fire and other large bells in 
the city were tolled from the moment the train entered 
the eastern limits of the town until it passed out of the 
western. The Hancock and Garfield campaign clubs 
marched together in full uniform into the depot and 
stood drawn up in line on both sides of the track while 
the train passed. At all stations there were crowds, 
and in the windows of houses along the route were 
people waving draped flags. At Lewistown the track 
was strewn with flowers. At Tyrone and Huntington 
the demonstrations were particularly imposing. The 
train reached Cresson at 2.29. The trains steamed up 
the mountain west of Altoona dragged by engines each, 
and the crowds that had lingered at the depot until 
after 2 o'clock reluctantly went homeward. Between 
Altoona and Cresson there were hundreds of the moun- 
taineers standing along the track with uncovered heads 
in the darkness of the night. The train passed Johns- 
town at 3.15 A. M. About three thousand people had 
congregated at the depot with uncovered heads, and 
all were silent. The bells of the churches, school 
Louses and engine companies were tolled. No stop 



ASSASSINATION OF TRESIDENT GARFIP]LD. \ 

was made until Derry was reached. By this time it> 
was nearly 5 o'clock, but even at that hour hundreds 
of men and women, boys and girls gathered around the 
train. From that point to Pittsburgh, forty-two miles, 
no stop was made. The average of twenty-eight miles 
an hour was maintained, the sections running twenty 
minutes apart. For ten miles outside of Pittsburgh 
the track was lined with people, some of whom had 
apparently remained up all night. 

Pittsburgh depot was reached at six o'clock. Dense 
throngs of people gathered in various parts of the city 
to see it pass. When the train came to a stop to 
change engines an elegant pillow of flowers was taken 
into the funeral car and placed upon the coffin. The 
train remained at the depot fourteen minutes and then 
pulled slowly out. All the people about the station 
remained with uncovered heads and the fire-alarm cen- 
tral bell and the various ones on the churches of the 
city tolled a morning requiem. At Liberty street and 
Pennsylvania avenue crossings thousands of persons 
were assembled, but were kept back from the track by 
a cordon of policemen. All uncovered their heads as 
the train passed. In Allegheny there were the same 
dense masses of people at each street-crossing. The 
train passed through Allegheny station without stop- 
ping and drew slowly through the park, where fully 
fifteen thousand persons had gathered, including sev- 
eral posts of the Grand Army of the Republic, who 
lowered their colors as the cars went by. Many ladies 
were in the throng, and these had brought flowers, 
which were laid on the track lor a quarter of a mile. 



716 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

From a rustic bridge crossing the tracks flowers were 
also dropped upon the cars as they passed beneath. 
The crowd was as silent as the funeral itself, and the 
signs of grief and aJffection were everywhere apparent. 
At the Allegheny outer depot two cars containing the 
committee having in charge funeral arrangements at 
Cleveland, who arrived last evening, were attached to 
the train, and the engine used within the city limits 
was replaced by a powerful transit locomotive. The 
funeral train was then started upon the last stage of 
the journey. 

As the two trains steamed west from Pittsburgh the 
crowds at the way-stations grew larger. The Grand 
Army of the Republic in line at Rochester, Pa., 
saluted each car as it passed, while the surrounding 
crowd stood with uncovered heads. After leaving 

o 

Rochester the black drapery on the left side of the 
lunch-car on the second section caught fire from a 
spark, and it was nearly all burned from that side of 
the car before the fire could be extinguished. The car 
itself was not damaged. At East Liverpool the crowd 
numbered at least two thousand, and a brass band 
played a slow march as the train passed. The fire 
department of the town was drawn up in line at the 
depot. Wellsville, Ohio, was reached by the funeral 
train at 8.39. The Congressional train caught up at 
this place with the funeral train, which was delayed 
because of a request of Mrs. Garfield that the coach in 
which she was riding should be placed in the rear of 
the train. The ladies did not sleep well last night 
because of the heat and being too close to the engine. 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 717 

Another reason for the change was that Mrs. Garfield 
desired to be out of reach of the crowd on arrivino; at 
Cleveland. Whenever the train made a stop the cur- 
tains of Mrs. Garfield's car were drawn down. There 
was a large crowd, as the funeral train stopped for 
some time. 

Grand preparations had been made at Cleveland for 
the reception of the funeral party. Long before its 
arrival there was not standing room on the ground or 
on the house-tops within an eighth of a mile of Euclid 
Avenue Station. A large stand was erected on the 
avenue and the seats sold on it for one dollar. Win- 
dows in Harkness Block and neighboring buildings 
sold for five dollars. Pen is inadequate to describe the 
great wavering, crowded gathering of human beings 
about the depot, on the sidewalks, in the streets, in 
trees, in windows and on the roofs. The intersection 
of the avenues looked like a great sea of heads ; the 
side-streets poured in their portion, like the delta 
streams of a river whose waters are separated by a 
thousand little islands and go rushing and bounding 
in different directions until they encounter the swell 
of the ocean, when their identity is lost. Everybody 
fought on tiptoe for a view of what was going on, with- 
out regard to age, color, sex or social distinction. The 
swell of the avenue stood shoulder to shoulder with the 
burly negro, the fashionably-attired belle squeezed and 
elbowed her way side by side with the beggar-woman. 

After some waiting a puff of white smoke was seen 
issuing over the curve toward the workhouse. There 
was a roar as hundreds in the vast multitude saw the 



718 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

faint smoke-cloud and exclaimed : " It's coming." 
Every man, woman and child was on tiptoe, with 
necks stretched and clinging to his neighbor's shoul- 
ders. In a second, when the dark outline of the engine 
made a break in. the long line of sun-reilecting rails and 
the train suddenly shot around the curve, everybody 
made some exclamation, and the screaming all at one 
time created a sound like the roar of Niagara Falls at 
a distance. In another second every spectator was 
struggling with his neighbor to get a sight of the train, 
which slackened speed gradually and finally stopped 
across the avenue. Tlie hearse and carriages were 
drawn up at the curbstone and a sad procession wended 
its way from the train to the avenue. The car in 
which the casket was brought was filled with flowers 
which almost hid the coffin from sight. The coffin 
was wrapped in triple folds of fine crape and a huge 
flag. Upon it were a few white flowers and great green 
leaves. It was borne from the train by ten United 
States artillerymen, who wore white helmets and who, 
with drawn swords, took up their positions beside the 
hearse. Next came the Cleveland committee of escort, 
who took their position in two files leading from the 
train to the hearse. Then came Mrs. Garfield, lean- 
ing on the arm of Mr. Blaine, her fac€ covered with a 
dark veil, which almost concealed her identity. They 
were followed by General Swaim, Mr. and Mrs. Rock- 
well and Harry and Mollie Garfield. Mrs. Garfield, 
Harry and Mollie immediately entered James Mason's 
private carriage and went to his home, where they 
were to remain as guests. Following Mrs. Garfield's 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GAKFIELD. 719 

immediate party came the Cabinet and the guard of 
honorj among whom were General Sherman, General 
Sheridan, General Hancock, Quartermaster-General 
Meigs and Admiral Porter, and one turned from the 
gilt glare of the army officer to the quiet dress of the 
civilian to admire the ease and grace of Bhiine as he 
handed the widow into her carriage, bowed low as she 
was driven away, and turned to join Secretaries Hunt 
and Kirkwood and thus made a little coterie who are 
to feel heavily the loss of the friendship of the great 
man in whose honor all the representative men of the 
nation were assembled with tear-dimmed eyes and 
bowed heads. 

As soon as the casket had been tenderly placed in 
the hearse the beautiful black horses drew it slowly 
down the avenue toward the files of soldiers and 
Knights Templar, who were drawn up on the west 
side of the avenue and faced the east, with heads bared 
and reverently bowed. Each horse was led by a 
colored groom. Slowly the procession took its march 
down the avenue in the following order : 

Colonel Wilson and Staff. 

Silver Gray Band. 

First City Troop. 

Hearse and horses, guarded by Knights Templar in columns of threes, 

and flanked by ten horsemen of tlie City Troop on each side. 

Forty-second Ohio Volunteers. 

The Cabinet. 

General Sherman and Aides. 

Guards of honor, composed of officers of the army and navy. 

The catafalque was reached shortly before three 
o'clock. Immediately a detail of Garfield's own com- 



720 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

mandery surrounded the gilded bier, with its four tall 
gilt columns, with the chaplain in the white robes of 
office and the insignia of his station, A slight pause 
followed, during which several distinguished citizens, 
Governor Foster and others, formed on each side of 
the catafalque, the Knights Templar forming in line 
on each side of the street entrance to the catafalque. 
The hearse followed next and rested until the coffin 
was taken out and borne inside the catafalque by the 
guard of honor of the Second United States Artillery 
to the bier, where it was deposited by the Templars 
with uncovered heads and presented swords. The band 
plaved a funeral dirsre. A detail of Cleveland Gravs, 
to guard the remains, marched into the catafalque and 
took position. The Knights countermarched, and led 
by the band the crowd slowly wended away. An im- 
mense concourse gathered at the line around the 
square, gazing with longing eyes toward the catafalque 
and all that is mortal of James A. Garfield. 

Shortly after placing the remains on the bier on 
the catafalque Governor Foster announced, at the re- 
quest of Mrs. Garfield, that the coffin would not be 
opened. 

The pavilion containing the catafalque on which the 
remains of the President were thus laid in state was 
erected in the centre of Monumental Park, the finest 
public square in Cleveland, and was probably the 
handsomest ornamental structure of its kind ever 
constructed. It was forty feet square at the base. 
The four fronts were spanned by arches thirty-six feet 
high and twenty-four feet wide at the base. The cata- 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 721 

falque upon which the casket will rest was five and a 
half feet high, covered with black velvet and hand- 
somel}' festooned. A long carpeted walk ascended the 
floor from the east and west fronts. -The pavilion was 
seventy-two feet high to the apex of the roof. From 
the centre of the roof rose a beautiful gilt spire, sup- 
porting the figure of an angel twenty-four feet high. 
The columns at each side of the arches were orna- 
mented by shields and exquisitely draped. Over these 
were suspended unfurled flags. The centres of the 
arches bore similar shields. On the angles of the roof 
were groups of furled flags. Projecting from the angles 
of the base were elevated platforms occupied by fully 
uniformed guards. Each platform was provided with 
a suitable piece of field artillery. 

The structure was appropriately decorated from base 
to dome witli black and white crape. Flowers and flags 
were displayed on various portions of the pavilion. 
The interior was beautified with rare plants, choice 
flowers and exquisite floral designs, two car-loads of 
which were from Cincinnati. At the east and west en- 
trances to Monumental Park were heavy gothic arches, 
with drive-ways and openings for foot passengers on 
each side. They were situated a sufficient distance 
from the catafalque to appear to be a part of it. The 
eastern one was covered with crape, with white and 
black trimmings running down each column and the 
top bordered with blue and white stars. Added to 
these were several golden shields. The western gate- 
way was similar in construction and seemed fairly to 
close up Superior street. On the extreme outside 

46 



722 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

pillars were the names of the States in black letters. 
The north and south approaches were in reality gate- 
ways, being built with bas reliefs draped in white, 
with one large central arch and heavy posts on either 
side. Surmounting all appear large golden eagles and 
other appropriate designs. 

The catafalque was, however, the great temporary 
monument of attraction. Standing with its four open 
arches and surmounted by its massive golden ball, its 
combined grandeur required a closer scrutiny to fully 
appreciate. Resting on each of its four corners was a 
cannon, heavily draped in black. Large black flags 
drooped from each side immediately beneath the cor- 
nice, and still lower fell the national colors, with 
streamers of crape alternating with the bars of red and 
white. An elegant shield, several feet in length, com- 
posed of swords, was conspicuously displayed on the 
octagon faces of the four sides. Half-circling the 
arches were choice ferns upon a white background, 
arranged in triangular shape, and heavy gold lining 
ran around the pillars. The interior was draped in 
plain and appropriate bands of rich black goods. At 
the south of the structure a large platform was erected 
on a level with the catafalque, on which sat the emi- 
nent visitors, the clergy and the singing societies. The 
catafalque was entered from the east and w^est by an 
inclined platform covered with matting. It was suffi- 
ciently wide to allow of the passage of not less than 
thirty persons abreast. During the forenoon wreath 
upon wreath of rare green were attached to the upper 
part of the structure. Two car-loads of ferns, leaves, 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD^ 723 

plants, etc., came Saturday morning from the Cincinnati 
Exposition. Also a car-load from parties in Philadel- 
phia. The arches were beautifully draped with strings 
of evergreen. 

During Saturday afternoon and night the guards 
stationed around the pavilion had strict orders to 
refuse admittance to every one, so the thousands which 
surrounded it could only stand off and gaze at it. All 
night long a large crowd kept moving around the bier. 
The inside of the catafalque was illuminated by two 
electric lights, and their ghostly brilliancy falling over 
the sombre bier and the immovable figures of the 
uniformed Knights Templar, who kept a loving vigil 
throughout the night, gave to all a weird and un- 
earthly appearance. The sentries paced their beats 
with slow and measured tread, and there was a hush 
over all that filled the beholder with awe. All passes 
for admittance to the inside of the guard-line were 
countermanded early in the evening, and orders given 
the guard to allow no one to enter without a written 
permit from the Mayor. This created some dissatis- 
faction, and many believed a view of the casket was 
not to be permitted. It became known, however, that 
those who wished could begin to pass through the 
pavilion at 9 o'clock this morning. 

During the 25th the public were allowed to pass 
through the pavilion and view the catafalque. Moving] 
forward, the mourning multitude walked slowly past 
the receptacle of all that remained of the man who 
had many times passed over the same spot in all the 
magnificent vigor of manhood. Many a tear was shed 



724 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

and many a silent prayer uttered within the sacred 
precincts of that solemn place. One man, who could 
not control his emotions, and forgetful of the generous 
and forgiving spirit of the man to whose clay he was 
paying homage, said, as the tears streamed down his 
cheek : " James A. Garfield, you will be avenged, and 
I will be your avenger." Those who waited until the 
rush was over, thinking they could pass through the 
pavilion with ease later in the day, were sadly disap- 
pointed. Each incoming train was loaded down with 
people from all parts of the country, and by 12 o'clock, 
although at least 35,000 persons had passed through 
the funeral arch, the crowd had swelled to such pro- 
portions that the troops had to clear the streets. Lines 
of soldiers formed on each side of the streets leading to 
the arch for half a mile, and no one could join the pro- 
cession without passing down the outside of these lines. 
The soldiers were kept on duty in that capacity all 
day, and in the evening, although a drizzling rain has 
begun to fall, the same solid mass of humanity half a 
mile long and five abreast is surging forward. As fast 
as one moves ahead another takes his place, and thus 
it is kept going. Men who have visited all quarters of 
the globe say it was the grandest sight they ever 
beheld. Ex- Minister Noyes stood mournfully watching 
the throng, and said, " There is something about this 
sight which impresses me as nothing has ever impressed 
me before." 

Monday, September 26th, the day appointed for the 
public funeral of President Garfield, came in bright and 
clear. The sun rose brilliantly, and a cool breeze swept 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 725 

fn from the lake. At an early hour the streets were 
alive with people, and by 10 o'clock Monumental Park 
was surrounded by a surging mass of struggling human 
beings, so densely packed that women fainted, children 
screamed, and strong men gasped for breath, as the liv- 
ing mass surged from place to place in the vain en- 
deavor to get nearer the guard line along the route of 
the procession. The street peddlers were up with the 
rest, and at work with all their usual noise and clatter. 
Upon every corner was a little square stand, surmounted 
and covered by a white canopy, in which was done a 
business of which those who conducted it and the 
patrons as well may feel justly proud. On each of the 
four sides of these canopies was painted in large black 
letters, " Garfield Monument Fund ; $1 subscriptions 
received and registered." In one of these alone $4,000 
was collected in the forenoon. 

A few moments before 10 o'clock a closed carriage 
came slowly down the street leading to the square. It 
was driven up to the catafalque. A lady clad in deep 
mourning alighted and walked slowly up the incline to 
the entrance. Every eye was turned that way, and a 
thousand voices said, " There she is, poor woman." It 
was Mrs. Garfield. She was soon followed by the fam- 
ily and relatives, the Cabinet, ex-President Hayes, ex- 
Secretary Evarts, and the members of the official 
household at Washington who are in the city. When 
the party had all assembled around the bier the sides 
of the catafalque were closed with luxuriantly foliaged 
tropical plants, cutting off the inside from public gaze, 
and the family and friends were alone with their dead. 



726 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

After a few moments the sides were again opened, and 
the services began. The immediate members of the 
family and near relatives and friends took seats about 
the casket, and at each corner was stationed a member 
of the Cleveland Grays, each of whom stood like a 
statue during the entire services. Meanwhile the crowd 
in the neighborhood had grown to enormous propor- 
tions. It was far greater than ever before seen in the 
city, but it was decorous, and was seemingly impressed 
with the solemnity of the occasion. Some dissatisfaction 
was expressed when it was known that the crowd would 
not be admitted to the Park during the funeral exer- 
cises, but no attempts were made to break through the 
guard, and all contentedly accepted the situation. 

The services began promptly at 10.30. Dr. J. P. 
Robinson, president of the ceremonies, arose, and, 
amid the most profound silence, announced Beetho- 
ven's " Funeral Hymn," which was finely rendered by 
the Cleveland Vocal Society. At its conclusion Bishop 
Bedell, of the Episcopal diocese of Ohio, read selections 
from the Scriptures, beginning with the fourteenth 
chapter of Job. Rev. Ross C. Houghton, pastor of the 
First M. E. Church, followed with a fervent prayer. 
It was shoft and impressive. After the vocal society 
had sung '' To Thee, Lord, I yield my spirit," Rev. 
Isaac Errett, of Cincinnati, delivered an eloquent ad- 
dress, taking for his text the following : "And the 
archers shot King Josiah, and the King said to his 
servants, have me away, for I am sore wounded," etc. 
He said there was never a mourning in all the world 
like unto this mourning. " I am not speaking extrava- 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 727 

gantly," he said, " for I am told it is the result of cal- 
culations carefully made that certainly not less than 
300,000,000 of the human race share in the sadness 
and the lamentations, the sorrow and the mourning 
that belong to this occasion here to-day. It is the 
chill shadow of a calamity that has extended itself 
into every home in all this land tind into every heart, 
and that has projected itself over vast seas and oceans 
into distant lands and awakened the sincerest and pro- 
foundest sympathies with us in the hearts of the good 
of all nations and among all peoples." The speaker 
then went into a eulogy upon the life of the dead 
President to show why the whole civilized w^orld 
should thus be cast down because of his sad death. 
Said he : " The great lesson to which I desire to call 
your attention can be expressed in a few words. James 
A. Garfield went through his whole public life without 
surrendering for a single moment his Christian integ- 
rity, his moral integrity, or his love for the spiritual. 
Coming into the exciting conflicts of political life with 
a nature as capable as any of feeling the force of every 
temptation ; with temptation to unholy ambition, with 
unlawful prizes within his reach, with every induce- 
ment to surrender all his religious faith and be known 
merely as a successful man of the world, from first to 
last he has manfully adhered to his religious convic- 
tion and found the more praise, and gathers in his 
death all the pure inspiration of the hope of everlast* 
ing life." The speaker concluded with a most touch- 
ing allusion to the stricken family. When he had 
concluded Rev. Jabez Hall, of the Euclid Avenue 



728 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

Presbyterian Church, read the "reaper song," which was 
a favorite of the late President, and after it was sung 
by the Cleveland Yocal Society, Rev. Charles S. Pome- 
roy offered prayer and the benediction. 

Grandma Garfield bore the services remarkably well, 
as did also the widow of the President. The only in- 
cident which occurred at the pavilion was the request 
of Grandma Garfield for a drink of water. Many per- 
sons construed this as an indication that the old lady 
was faint, but such was not the case. No one except 
the family, members of the general committee and dis- 
tinsruished guests were admitted within the sates of 
the Park. 

While the solemn ceremony was in progress the vast 
crowds were industriously at work arranging them- 
selves along the streets through which the procession 
was to pass. A line of soldiers was stationed on each 
side of the streets the whole distance from the square 
to the cemetery, six miles, and by that means the peo- 
ple were kept in bounds. The curbstones w^ere first 
sought for by spectators, and all, men, women and 
children, eagerly sought for and occupied this low posi- 
tion. Then chairs were arranged directly behind the 
curbstone, and were rapidly filled. Every conceivable 
elevation w^hich could ^afibrd the slightest view of the 
streets was occupied. ' House-tops, balconies and win- 
dows were filled, and many citizens had private plat- 
forms for the accommodation of their friends. By this 
time the sun, w^iich had brought so much brightness 
at early morn, seemed to have been reinforced with 
much more brilliancy, and tjie lake broeze had died 
away, leaving the air hot and motionless. 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 729 

Immediately after the completion of the relin-ious 
ceremonies, the coffin was removed from the catafiilque 
to the funeral car; this occupied fifteen minutes time. 
A corps of United States marines from the United 
States steamer Michigan formed parallel lines from the 
east side of the pavilion to the east entrance to the 
Park, through which the casket was borne on the 
shoulders of the United States artillerymen, under 
command of Lieutenant Weaver, Second United States 
Artillery, to the funeral car, followed by the mourners, 
who took seats in carriages. 

The casket having been placed in the car, the pro- 
cession moved off at five minutes before twelve in the 
following order : 

Marshal-in-chief, General Jas. Barnett ; with the fol- 
lowing staff : 

General Ed. S. Meyer, Adjutant-General; Major "W. 
F. Goodspeed, Assistant Adjutant-General; Captain C. 
C. Dewstoe, Assistant Adjutant-General; Aides-de-camp, 
General J. J. Elwell, Colonel J. F. Isom, Colonel E. 
Sawers, Colonel M. L. Dempsy, Colonel A. M. Burns, 
Colonel E. S. Coe, Colonel A. F. Brinsmade, Major W. 
P. Edgerson, Colonel L. R. Davis, Colonel S. V. Lamer- 
aux, Colonel W. F. Kinman, Captain Felix Rosenberg, 
Captain J. C. Hutchins, Captain J. B. Allender, Cap- 
tain N. D. Fisher, Captain W. J. Gleason, Captain D. 
H. Kimberly, Captain Frank Rielly, Captain J. Weid- 
enkof!'. Captain F. W. Petton, Captain N. Weidenkoff, 
Captain Percy W. Rice, Captain W. Smith, Captain 
Theodore Voges, Captain C. E. Burke, Captain Geo. 
W. Howe, Captain Q. J. Carran, Captain W. H. Fer- 
rand. 



730 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

First Division.— Colonel H. M. Duffield, Detroit In- 
fantry, commanding. Detachment of police; Silver 
Gray's Band of Cleveland ; Boston Independent Fu- 
sileers; Spaulding Guards; Company B, 74th Regiment 
New York National Guards ; Owen City Guards ; 
Company F, 74th Regiment New York National 
Guards ; Buffalo City G^iards ; Cadet Band ; Buffalo City 
Cadets; United States Barracks band, of Columbus, 
Ohio; Governor's Guard, Columbus, Ohio; Toledo 
Cadets' band ; Toledo Cadets ; Detroit Infantry band ; 
Detroit Infantry ; Washington Infantry band, of Pitts- 
burgh ; Washington Infantry ; Gatling Gun battery ; 
First Ohio battery. 

Second Division. — Uniformed Societies, Colonel Al- 
bert Barnitz, commanding. Aids, Captain M. B. Gary, 
Major A. W. Fenton, Captain E. M. Hessler, Captain 
C. C. Arms, Captain W. A. Ludlum, Captain W. J. 
Starkweather. Columbia Commandery, No. 2, Wash- 
ington, D. C. ; Detroit Commandery, No. 1, Detroit ; 
Hugh De Payne Commandery, Buffalo; De Molay 
Commandery, Louisville, Ky. ; Oliva Commandery, 
Erie, Pa. ; Cincinnati Commandery, No. 3, Cincinnati ; 
Reed Commandery, No. 6, Dayton ; Toledo Command- 
ery, No. 7, Toledo ; Hanselman Commandery, Cincin- 
nati ; Mansfield Commandery, No. 21, Mansfield ; Erie 
Commandery, Sandusky; Akron Commandery, Akron, 
Ohio; Cachte Commandery, Conneaut, Ohio; Eagle 
Commandery, Painesville, Ohio ; Norwalk Command- 
ery, Norwalk, Ohio; Holy Rood Commandery, Cleve- 
land ; Oriental Commandery, Cleveland ; N. W. Battal- 
ion, Uniform Patriarchs, I. 0. 0. F. ; Preux Chevalier 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 731 

Division, K. of P.; Cleveland Division, K. of P.; Camp 
Cordes Drill Battalion, I. 0. 0. F. ; other uniform socie- 
ties not reported. 

Third Division. — Veteran Societies, General M. D. 
Leggett, commanding. Aids, Captain John Crowell, 
Jr., Captain G. A. Groot, Captain G. H. Foster, Cap- 
tain J. A. Bennett, Captain P. B. Smith, Lieutenant 
Fred Kinsman, Jr., Lieutenant Sedmund Clark, George 
W. Stockley, Forty-second Regiment, 0. V. I. (Gar- 
field's regiment) ; Cuyahoga County Soldiers' and 
Sailors' Union, excluding all veteran regimental 
organizations; Grand Army of the Republic; Gen- 
eral Lyon Post, East Liverpool, Ohio; Paulus 
Post, Ashtabula, Ohio; Custer Post, Conneaut, Ohio; 
Hart Post, Massilon, Ohio; Tod Post, Youngstovvn, 
Ohio ; Canton Post, Canton, Ohio ; Grand Army Post, 
Pittsburgh, Pa. ; other posts of the department of Ohio. 
Societies — Williams College, Western Reserve Univer- 
sity, Hudson ; Delta Epsilon Fraternity, Republican 
Invincibles, Philadelphia; Life Saving Service, Gar- 
field and Arthur Glee Club, Columbus; Lidependent 
Order of Foresters, Ancient Order of Foresters, Inde- 
pendent Order of Red Men, Independent Order of 
Free Sons of Israel, Hungarian Societies, I. 0. B. 
and S. S. B., Verein Deutscher Kriezer, Bohemian 
Societies, Swiss Beneficial Society, Order of Sons of 
St. George. 

Fourth Division. — Civic Societies, Captain E. H. 
Bohm, commanding. Aids, Captain L. E. Lambert, 
Herman Mueller, Ed. Vopaleckey, E. E. KlauBman, F. 
Seelbach, Emil J. Weil and Hermon Schmidt. First 



732 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

Voters' Battalion, Socialer Turnverein, German Order 
of Harigari, Trades Unions, Cleveland Lodge, No. 61, 
K. of P., Bricklayers' Union, No, 5, of Ohio; Garfield 
and Arthur Es^.ort Corps, of Pittsburgh ; Ancient Order 
United Workmen, of Buffalo ; nine Lodges Ohio Divi- 
sion I. 0. 0. F. 

Fifth Division. — Irish and Catholic Societies, Cap- 
tain M. A. Foran, commanding. Aids, Patrick Reilly, 
J. P. Darnley, Thomas Humphrey, Jerry Sheehan, P. 
A. Dempsey, James McNeil, Geo. Kessler, John Knick- 
ing, J. J. Jerdra, T. Glidden. Societies — Irish Ameri- 
can Legion, Cleveland; German American Legion, 
Cleveland ; Knights of St. Winceslaus, Cleveland ; 
Knights of St. Louis, Cleveland; Knights of St. 
George, Cleveland ; Hibernian Rifles, Cleveland ; St. 
Cyril and Methodius Societies, Cleveland ; St. John's 
Society, Cleveland ; St. Patrick T. A. Society, Cleve- 
land ; St. Malachi T. A. Society ; Father Mathew Total 
Abstinence Society, Newburg ; Immaculate Conception 
T. A. Society, Cleveland ; Annunciation T. A. Society, 
Cleveland ; St Patrick's T. A. Cadets, Cleveland ; St. 
Malachi's T. A. Cadets, Cleveland ; Ancient Order 
Hibernians (ten divisions), Cleveland; Knights of 
Erin, Cleveland; Knights of Erin, Newburg; St. 
Patrick's Benevolent Society, Cleveland ; St. Joseph's 
Society, St Peter's Church, Cleveland; St. Joseph's 
Society, St Mary's Church, Cleveland ; St. Joseph's 
Society, St, Joseph's Church, Cleveland ; St. Stephen's 
Society, Cleveland ; Knights of St. Joseph, Cleveland ; 
Knights o.C St. John, Cleveland ; Young Men's Sodality, 
Cleveland ; St. Anthony's Society, Cleveland ; St. 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 733 

Albert's Society, Cleveland; St. Bridget's Society, 
Cleveland. 

Sixth Division. — Colonel H. N. Wilbeck, commandins^. 
Aids, Captain W. C. Cowein, Captain J. N. Estabrook, 
Captain T. K. Dissette, Captain D. N. Alvord, Cap- 
tain Thos. Smith, Captain Henry Gordon, Hon. Joseph 
Breck, Hon. J. M. Curtiss, James W. Deveney, Frank 
Brown, C. P. Dryden, William Hanna, W. Horton, Jr. 
Citizens of Detroit ; citizens of Canton ; citizens of the 
Nineteenth Congressional District, and other organized 
bodies of citizens from abroad. 

Seventh Division. — Funeral escort. Colonel John M. 
Wilson, U. S. A., commanding. Aids, Captain T. A. 
Kendell, Lieutenant Sanbarn, Lieutenant G. H. An- 
drews, Lieutenant Bawker, Marine Band of Washing- 
ton, D. C, Cleveland City Troop, Funeral Car and 
bearers (detachment of Second U. S. Artillery, under 
command of Lieutenant Weaver), battalion of Knights 
Templar, Cleveland Grays. 

Eighth Division. — Colonel W. H. Hayward, com- 
manding. Vehicles containing guard of honor ; Gen- 
eral W. T. Sherman, General P. H. Sheridan, General 
W. S. Hancock, General R. C. Drum, Admiral D. S. 
Porter, Pay Director Looker, Surgeon General P. S. 
Wales, Commodore Carl English, ex-Presidents of the 
United States, Cabinet officers, members of Diplomatic 
Corps, Judges of the Supreme Court, United States 
Senators, Governors of States and their staffs. Members 
of Congress, Society of the Army of the Cumberland, 
Mayors of cities, distinguished guests invited by the 
Secretary of State. 



734 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

Ninth Division. — Ohio National Guard, General S. 
P. Smith, Adjutant-General of Ohio, commanding. 
Consisting of the following companies : Third Regi- 
ment 0. N. G., Fourth Regiment 0. N. G., Fifth Regi- 
ment 0. N. G., Sixth Regiment 0. N. G., Seventh 
Regiment 0. N. G., Eighth Regiment 0. N. G., Ninth 
Regiment 0. N. G., Eleventh Regiment 0. N. G., 
Fourteenth Regiment 0. N. G., Sixteenth Regiment 0. 
N. G. 

The military moved past with reversed guns, draped 
colors and muffled drums, and in the order detailed 
above. After the Detroit Company came the Boston 
Fusileers, an old and time-honored organization. They 
were followed by Companies B and F, Seventy-fourth 
Regiment National Guard, State of New York ; the 
Buffalo City Guard Cadets, who were much admired, 
and the Buffalo City Guard. Next came the famous 
United States Barracks Band, of Columbus, followed by 
the Governor's Guard, a magnificeilt and finely propor- 
tioned body of men. The Toledo Cadets made a very 
handsome showing, and received marked recognition 
from the spectators for their precision in marching. 
Much fiivorable comment was made upon the Wash- 
ington Infantry of Pittsburgh. The Gatling gun and 
the Cleveland Light Artillery followed in platoon front, 
and their appearance delighted the spectators. With 
erect form and noble carriage came the Knights Tem- 
plar and Knights of Pythias, whose floating plumes 
and drawn swords carried one back to the days of "an- 
cient lore." Next came the veterans of the war, who 
to the inspiring strains of music seemed to forget their 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 735 

fige and infirmities, and marched with the swin^in^. 
steady gait they had learned while serving their coun- 
try in the war. 

The fourth, fifth and sixth divisions comprised only 
civic societies, mostly ununiformed, and the crowd 
availed every opportunity to rest as it passed. Then 
every eye was strained and every neck stretched to see 
the division of honor, the seventh, in charge of Major 
Wilson. First came the famous Marine Band, of 
Washington, then the First City Troop, in platoons, 
and the funeral-car, drawn by twelve black horses, 
four abreast, which impatiently champed their bits at 
the slow and solemn progress. The car was surrounded 
by the guard of honor, composed of detachments from 
the artillery, the marines, seamen, Cleveland Grays 
and Washington and Cleveland Knights Templar, in 
nearly the same order as when the body-guard escorted 
from the station on Saturday, the Cleveland Grays 
occupying the extreme left. As the division passed 
many heads were uncovered, but in the main the 
crowd was too anxious to see, and even this slight 
tribute of respect to the illustrious dead was forgotten. 
Such expressions as " There's Hancock," " there's 
Blaine," or " there's Sherman," were heard on every 
hand, and many declared that Grant was a fine-looking 
man when they had mistaken Admiral Porter for the 
silent soldier. After the division of honor came the 
mourners, and many an eye which had but a moment 
before dilated with admiration at the gay uniforms of 
the military and naval officers, now filled with tears 
as they gazed at the carriage in which rode the sor- 



73G JAMES A. GARFIELD, 

rowing widow and the bereaved mother. Grandma 
Garfield had her veil thrown back, exposing her dear, 
sweet face and silvery locks, the features drawn by 
grief 

The scene was a striking one. The gay uniforms of 
the soldiers, followed by the long line of citizens and 
the hearse, with its mournful surroundings, made a 
pageant which was beautiful and imposing. The six 
miles of Euclid avenue were decorated in a manner 
becoming the occasion. The designs were varied and 
handsomely and tastefully arranged. Life-size pictures 
of the dead President were hung in front of many of 
the beautiful mansions along the avenue, draped with 
the national colors and entwined with black crape, re- 
lieved by festoons of white. In the lawns in front of 
a large number of the residences tasteful designs had 
been erected. Broken shafts surrounded with smilax ; 
massive crosses, shields, anchors, harps and crowns 
were seen on every hand, elaborately decorated with 
evergreens and flowers suitable for mourning designs. 
On Prospect street, second in beauty to Euclid avenue 
only, and on the other streets leading to the cemetery, 
there was the same universal expression of mourning 
by the residents. Elegant silk flags trimmed with 
black hung from many a stafl", and broad bands of crape 
were stretched from roof to foundation on many of the 
residences. The Ashtabula Battery, which was sta- 
tioned along the line of march, divided into two sec- 
tions three miles apart, fired minute guns as the funeral 
procession passed. The State militia were stationed at 
the entrance to the cemetery and on each side of the 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 737 

driveways leading to the vault, where at Mrs. Garfield's 
request it was decided to place the remains. The steps 
to the vault were carpeted with flowers, and on both 
sides of the entrance were anchors of tuberoses and a 
cross of white smilax and evergreen. Festooned above 
a heavy black canopy was stretched over the steps 
from which the exercises were to be conducted. 

The procession occupied two hours and a quarter 
in passing a given point. It was about four miles in 
length. At 3.30 it entered the gateway of the cemetery, 
which was arched over with black, with appropriate 
inscriptions. On the keystone were the words, "Come 
to Rest;" on one side were the words, "Lay him to rest 
whom we have learned to love;" upon the other, "Lay 
him to rest whom we have learned to trust." A massive 
cross of evergreen issued from the centre of the arch. 
The United States Marine Band, continuing the mourn- 
ful strains it had kept up during the entire march, 
entered first. Then came the Forest City Troop, of 
Cleveland, who were the escort of the President to his 
inauguration. Behind them came the funeral car, with 
its escort of twelve United States artillerymen, followed 
by a battalion of Knights Templar and the Cleveland 
Grays. The mourners' carriage and those containing 
the guard of honor comprised all of the procession that 
entered the grounds. The cavalry halted at the vault 
and drew up in line facing it, with sabres presented. 
The car drew up in front, with the mourners' carriage 
and those of the Cabinet behind. The band played 
"' Nearer, my God, to Thee," as the military escort 
lifted the coffin from the car and carried it into the 

47 



738 - JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

vault, the local committee of reception, Secretary 
Blaine, Marshall Henry and one or two personal 
friends standing at each side of the entrance. None 
of the President's family, except two of the boys, left 
the carriages during the exercises, which occupied less 
than half an hour. Dr. J. P. Robinson, as president 
of the day, opened the exercises by introducing Rev. 
J. H. Jones, chaplain of the Forty-second Regiment 
Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which General Garfield com- 
manded. Chaplain Jones spoke at considerable length 
of his old comrade-in-arms. A beautiful hymn was 
rendered by the German singing societies, President 
Hinsdale, of Hiram College, pronounced the benedic- 
tion, and the last sad rites over James A. Garfield, the 
martyr President, were completed. Quite a shower 
of rain fell while the exercises at the grave were going 
on, which was the only feature to mar the perfect 
fulfilment of the day's sad ceremonies. The pro- 
cession reformed at the cemetery and marched back to 
the city in the same order that it started from the 
catafalque. 

So ended the last honors the Nation could pay to 
its Martyred President. Yet his name and fame will 
live a bright example to all the world, and one of 
the proudest and most valued possessions of the great 
people for whom he died. 



CHE LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 



or 



CJ-EN. CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 



CHAPTER I. 

Birth and Parentage — College Life — Teaches a Country School — Studies 
Law — Admitted to Practice — Settles iu New York — Marries the Dau^h- 
ter of a Hero — Defends two Fugitive Slaves — Carries his Case to a Tri- 
umphant Issue — Appointed Engineer-in-Chief of Governor Morgan's 
Staff — An Honorable Record — Refuses to accept Presents for his Public 
Services — His Record on Civil Service Reform — Made Collector of the 
Port of New York — Puts a stop to Frauds upon the Government — At- 
tempts to fasten Charges of Fraud upon Plim are Unsuccessful — Re 
moved from Office by President Hayes — Offered the post of Consul 
General to Paris — Refuses it — Personal Appearance — Nominated for 
Vice-President — His Letter of Acceptance. 

Chester A. Arthur, was born in Franklin County, Ver^ 
mont, on the 5th of October, 1830. He is the oldest of 
a family of two sons and five daughters. His father, the 
Rev. Dr. William Arthur, a Baptist clergyman, emigrated 
from the County of Antrim, in Ireland, to this country, 
in his eighteenth year, and died in Newtonville, near 
Albany, New York, October 27, 1875. General Arthur 
was educated at Union College, and was graduated 
in the class of '49. After leaving college he taught a 
country school during two years in Vermont, and then, 

739 



740 CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 

having managed by rigid economy to save about $500, he 
started for New York, and entered the law office of ex- 
Judge E. D. Culver as a student. After being admitted 
to the bar, he formed a partnership with his friend, Henry 
D. Gardiner, with the intention of practising in the West, 
but in the end they returned to New York, where they 
entered upon a successful career almost from the start. 
General Arthur soon afterwards married the daughter of 
Lieutenant Herndon, United States Navy, who was lost 
at sea. Mrs. Arthur died only a short time ago. 

In 1852, Jonathan and Juliet Lemmon, Virginian 
slaveholders, intending to emigrate to Texas, came to 
New York to await the sailing of a steamer, bringing 
eight slaves with them. A writ of habeas corpus was 
obtained from Judge Paine to test the question whether 
the provisions of the Fugitive Slave law were in force in 
New York State. Judge Paine rendered a decision hold- 
ing that they were not, and ordering the Lemmon slaves 
to be liberated. Henry L. Clinton was one of the counsel 
for the slaveholders. A howl of rage went up from the 
South, and the Virginia legislature authorized the Attor- 
ney-General of that State to assist in taking an appeal. 
William M. Evarts and Chester A. Arthur were employed 
to represent the people, and they won their case, which 
then went to the Supreme Court of the United States. 
Charles O'Conor espoused the cause of the slaveholders, 
but he, too, was beaten by Messrs. Evarts and Arthur, 
and a long step was taken towards the emancipation of 
the black race. Another great service was rendered by 
General Arthur in the same cause in 1856. Lizzie Jei> 
nings, a respectable colored woman, was put off a New 



LIFE AND SERVICES. 741 

York street-car with violence, after she had paid her fare. 
General Arthur sued on her behalf, and secured a verdict 
of $500 damages. The next day the company issued an 
order to permit colored persons to ride on their cars, and 
the other car companies quickly followed their example. 

General Arthur, previous to the outbreak of the war, 
was Judge- Advocate of the 2d Brigade of the New York 
State Militia, and Governor Edwin D. Morgan, soon after 
his inauguration, selected him to fill the position of Engi- 
neer-in-Chief of his staff. In 1861 he held the post of 
Inspector-General, and soon afterward was advanced to 
that of Quartermaster-General,, which he held until the 
expiration of Morgan's term of office. No higher en- 
comium can be passed upon him than the mention of 
the fact that, although the war account of the State of 
New York was at least ten times larger than that of any 
other State, yet it was the first audited and allowed in 
Washington, and without the deduction of a dollar, while 
the Quartermaster's accounts from other States were 
reduced from $10,000,000 to $1,000,000. During his 
term of office every present sent to him was immedi- 
ately returned. Among others, a prominent clothing 
house offered him a magnificent uniform, and a printing 
house sent him a costly saddle and trappings. Both 
gifts were indignantly rejected. When Mr. Arthur be- 
came Quartermaster- General he was poor. When his 
term expired he was poorer still. He had opportuni- 
ties to make millions unquestioned. Contracts larger 
than the world had ever seen were at his disposal. He 
had to provide for the clothing, arming, and transporta- 
tion of hundreds of thousands of men His own words 



742 CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 

in regard to this matter amply illustrate his character. 
"If I had misappropriated fivo cents, and on walking 
down town saw two men talking on the corner together, 
I would imagine they were talking of my dishonesty, 
and the very thought would drive me mad." 

At the expiration of Governor Morgan's term, Ar- 
thur returned to his law practice. Business of the most 
lucrative character poured in upon him, and the firm 
of Arthur & Gardiner prospered exceedingly. Much of 
their work consisted in the collection of war claims and 
the drafting of important bills for speedy legislation, 
and a great deal of General Arthur's time was spent in 
Albany and Washington, where his success won for him 
a national reputation. For a short time he held the 
position of counsel to the Board of Tax Commissioners 
of New York city, at $10,000 per annum Gradually he 
was drawn into the arena of politics. He nominated, 
and by his efforts elected, the Hon. Thomas Murphy a 
State Senator. When the latter resigned the collector- 
ship of the port of New York, November 20, 1871, 
President Grant nominated General Arthur to the vacant 
position, and four years later, when his term expired, 
renominated him, an honor that had never been shown 
to any previous collector in the history of the port. In 
a letter written to the Secretary of the Treasury, in the 
winter of 1877, after the New York Custom House In- 
vestigating Committee had finished their labors, General 
Arthur said : 

" The subject of civil service reform and the modes 
of appointment to office is that to which the commission 
gives most attention. The essential elements of a secret 



LIFE AND SERVICES. 743 

civil service I understand to be first, permanence .n 
office, which, of coiirse, prevents removals except for 
cause ; second, promotion from the lower to the higher 
grades, based wpon good conduct and efficiency; third, 
prompt and thorough investigation of all complaints, and 
prompt punishment of all misconduct. In the face of 
the misstatements of the commission, and in spite of 
persistent misrepresentations, I claim that the adminis- 
tration of my office has been characterized by the ob- 
servance of all these. In this respect I challenge com- 
parison with any department of the Government, and 
maintain that civil service reform has been more faith- 
fully observed, and more thoroughly carried out, in the 
New York Custom House than in any other branch or 
department of the Government, either under the present 
or under any past national administration. I am pre- 
pared to demonstrate the truth of this statement on any 
fair investigation." He did demonstrate it absolutely 
from figures and statistics taken from the records of the 
Custom House, and his letter was unanswerable and has 
been unanswered. He showed that during his term of 
over six years in office the percentage of removals was 
only 2f against an annual average of 28 per cent, under 
his three immediate predecessors, and an annual average 
of about 24 per cent, since 1857, when Collector Schell 
took office. Of the 923 persons in office prior to Ins 
appointment, 531 were still retained on May 1, 1877. 
As to promotions. Collector Arthur gave statistics which 
proved that during his whole term the uniform practice 
was to advance men from the lower to the higher grades, 
and almost without exception on the recommendation of 



744 CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 

Ihe heuds of bureaus. All appointments except two to 
the 100 positions commanding salaries of $2,000 per 
year, were made on this plan, and none at all at the in- 
stance of outsiders. No such civil service was ever 
maintained in any other government bureau in the 
country. It also appeared from the statistics and history 
of the Custom House, as quoted in the collector's letters, 
a great number of improvements were introduced during 
his administration ; in fact, that a constant series of 
reforms were being put into practice. In this connec- 
tion General Arthur said : " It is not my purpose here 
to enumerate them all, but I may call your attention to 
some. The general order system, so called, had been for 
more than a quarter of a century a constant subject of 
complaint by the merchants, of investigation by Con- 
gress, and of alleged corruption. Since the changes in 
the system and in the charges for storage introduced five 
years ago, no whisper of complaint has been heard. By 
a change in the system of ordering goods for examina- 
tion, the methods of fraud and corruption by which the 
Government had lost large sums has been effectually 
checked. By another change trij)licate consular invoices 
have been for the first time rendered of some value, and 
frauds in the suppression of invoices and the procure 
ment of appraisement orders, so called, have been stopped 
Fraud or misconduct under the former system led to the 
removal of six or eight officers of the Appraiser's Depart- 
ment. The introduction of a system by which prompt 
notice is given to merchants of refunds of duties has 
saved them from imposition and delay in the receipt of 
moneys due. A change in the liquidating department 



LIFE AND SERVICES. ' 745 

hn.% reduced the time needed for the liquidation of en- 
tries from months to weeks. Only importers can appre- 
ciate the value of this change. The efficiency of the 
bureau in charge of the public store has been so in- 
creased that the complaints of petty pilfering and delays 
have almost ceased. And in general the efficiency of the 
entire force, including that immediately under the con- 
trol of the surveyor, has been so increased as to be 
greater than at any previous period." 

The New York Custom House, during General Ar- 
thur's administration, was the best investigated place in 
the country, but every attempt to find a flaw resulted 
the same. It came out from each ordeal without a single 
breath of allegation against its head. It may be that 
these attempts were made because Collector Arthur stood 
up so steadfastly for his people. When new administra- 
tions come into power, and there are new crowds of 
office seekers to satisfy, there is apt under such circum- 
stances to be some jarring. It is a fact that the only at- 
tempts at violation of the civil service rules were made, 
not by him, but from Washington. An exa,mination of 
the Custom House files would reveal many letters from 
Washington, accompanied by the strongest recommenda- 
tions, urging the appointment of their bearers to various 
positions in the New York Custom House, from that of 
Deputy Collector down. These efforts to violate his sys- 
tem of civil service reform were steadily withstood by 
Collector Arthur. 

General Arthur was admirably fitted to discuss the 
legal questions continually arising under the manifold 
revenue laws, and it was his constant habit at the close 



746 CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 

of each day's business to carefully go over and settle the 
many points raised in the correspondence bureau, and by 
application from merchants. The New York Custom 
House thus became under his management a reference 
not only of the Treasury Department, but of nearly all 
the other Custom Houses in the country, and perhaps no 
more instructive school could be found than the one 
where the revenue laws were, under his supervision, daily 
interpreted. 

General Arthur was removed by President Hayes on 
July 12, 1878, despite the fact that two special commit- 
tees made searching investigation into his administration, 
and both reported themselves unable to find anything 
upon which to base a charge against him. In their pro- 
nunciamentos announcing the change, both President 
Hayes and Secretary Sherman bore official witness to the 
purity of his acts while in office. A petition for his re- 
tention was signed by every judge of every court in New 
York, by all the prominent members of the bar, and by 
nearly every important merchant in the collection dis- 
trict, but this Greneral Arthur himself suppressed. Im- 
mediately upon his removal from the New York collec- 
torship, General Arthur was offered by President Hayes 
the Consul-Generalship at Paris. In a letter acknowl- 
edging the tender of the office. General Arthur expressed 
his appreciation of the compliment, and his regret thai 
his private interests were in such a condition that he 
could not accept it. 

In person General Arthur is over six feet in height, 
broad-shouldered, athletic, and handsome. He is an 
ardent disciple of Izaak Walton and a member of the 



LIFE AND SERVICES. 747 

Restigouche Salmon Fishing Club. He is a man of great 
culture and wide experience, an able lawyer, with refined 
tastes, and manners of the utmost geniality. 

Although General Arthur's prominence in the party 
was so great, it was not generally supposed that he would 
receive either nomination. After the nomination of Gen- 
eral Garfield on the 8th of June, the convention ad- 
journed until the afternoon. 

The convention began to reassemble at five o'clock. 

On the chairman's table stood a large floral efiigy of 
a full-rigged ship floating on a sea of color, in which the 
name of Garfield was worked in scarlet flowers. 

The convention was called to order at 5.30. Lum- 
bard's male quartet, of Chicago, opened the proceedings 
with the song " My Country 'tis of Thee," eliciting much • 
applause and a recall, to which they responded by giving 
the comic negro campaign song known as " Old Shady." 

When the music ceased Mr. Geary, of Maryland, 
moved that the convention proceed to receive the nomi- 
nation for a candidate for Vice-President. Adopted. 

On California being called, Mr. Pixley rose to put in 
nomination by his own delegation a nominee for the sec- 
ond place on the ticket. He commended the nomination 
of Garfield as a strong one, and urged the importance of 
nominating an equally strong man for the second place. 
He named Elihu B. Washburne, of Illinois, whose career 
in Congress was most creditable, and to whose wise, hu- 
mane, and manly course in Paris during the Commune the 
speaker was an eye-witness, a man whose conduct on that 
occasion should and would draw to the ticket on which 
ht is placed the great mass of the German vote. 



748 CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 

While Mr, Pixley was speaking, Mr. Logan was 
seen talking to the Ohio delegation, apparently in ex- 
cited remonstrance against their support of the Wash- 
burne movement. 

Mr. McCarthy, of New York, seconded Washburne's 
nomination, but the confusion rendered his utterance 
nearly unintelligible at the reporters' seats. He was un- 
derstood, however, to eulogize Washburne's career both at 
home and abroad, and elicited a cordial and hearty ap- 
plause from the galleries. 

Mr. Robinson, of Connecticut, presented the name of 
Marshall Jewell, of that State. 

Mr. Hicks, of Florida, after an earnest presentation 
of the sufferings of Rojmblicans in the South, because 
they had the courage of their convictions, presented the 
name of Thomas Settle, of Florida [applause], whose 
nomination would help to break the solid South. 

Mr. Harris, of North Carolina, a colored delegate, 
seconded Mr. Settle's nomination as one that would com- 
mand general approval in the South, because of his ser- 
vices to the Republican party, and his efforts to secure to 
all men their equal rights before the law. He was the 
sledge-hammer with which to break the backbone of 
the solid South. 

Mr. Conger, of Michigan, in accordance with the 
unanimous vote of the Michigan State Convention, said 
he would have been glad to present the name of Thomas 
W. Ferry, but he had a letter from the senator abso- 
lutely declining the use of his name, and he asked to 
have it received and made part of the record. Agreed to. 

Mr. Houck, of Tennessee, in obedience to the Repub- 



LIFE AND SERVICES. 749 

lican convention of that State, and the common senti- 
ment of the Republicans of the South, put in nomination 
Horace Maynard, of Tennessee. 
Mr. Frye was called to the chair. 
Mr. Woodford, of New York, said the great majority 
of the delegates from New York came here with the 
earnest desire and purpose to secure the nomination of 
General Grant. In this they had been disappointed, but 
would give the ticket hearty support. In behalf of many 
of the New York delegation, he presented the name of 
Chester A. Arthur, of New York, for Vice-President. 

Mr. Dennison, of Ohio, seconded Arthur's nomination. 
He embraced the occasion briefly, in the name of the 
Ohio delegation, to thank the convention for their action 
in nominating General Garfield. 

The chairman read a telegram from Oregon to dele- 
gate Scott, announcing that the Republicans carried that 
State by 1,000 majority yesterday, and that Garfield s 
nomination excited great enthusiasm. 

Mr. Kilpatrick, of New Jersey, seconded Arthurs 
nominatioa as one well calculated to secure the vote of 
New York for the ticket. , 

Mr Storrs, of Illinois, on behalf of the majority 
of the Illinois delegation, supported Arthur's nommation, 
which would be gratifying to the old guard, which, dur- 
ing thirty-six ballots here, had never wavered m its sup- 
po^'rt of the silent old soldier. (Applause.) 

Mr Lynch (colored), of Mississippi, said tor the 
Southern Grant Republicans, that they willmgly and 
heartny concurred in New York's choice, and hoped it 
would be ratified by the convention. 



750 



CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 



A Maryland delegation also seconded Arthur's nom- 
ination, and said his delegation would sustain it with a 
solid vote. He regretted that he could not yet promise 
that Maryland would give a majority for the ticket in 
November next, but the nomination already made and 
the one proposed would give Maryland Republicans the 
best possible opportunity to battle for a political revolu- 
tion in that State. (Applause.) 

Mr. Filley, of Missouri, announced that his State 
would give thirty votes to Arthur. 

Mr. Chambers, of Texas, presented the name of ex- 
Governor Davis, of that State, and got a little excited by 
interruptions of those who called " Time " and " Ques- 
tion." Florida withdrew Settle in favor of Arthur. Mr. 
Cessna, of Pennsylvania, said his delegation was within 
two votes of a unit for Arthur. 

Mr. White, of Kentucky, said his delegation was a 
unit for Arthur. 

Mr. McCarthy, of New York, withdrew his second to 
Washburne's nomination, and moved that Arthur's nomi 
nation be made by acclamation. 

The chair ruled that the roll must be called on this 
ballot, and that Mr. McCarthy's motion was out of order. 

Texas withdrew Mr. Davis's name. Mr. Hoar re- 
sumed the chair, and stated that it was in order to sus- 
pend the rules by a two-thirds vote. 

A delegate moved that the rules be suspended, and 

the nomination of Mr. Arthur be made by acclamation 

The motion to suspend was lost. 

Roll was called on the ballot, which resulted as fol 
lows : 



LIFE AND SERVICES. 



751 



THE VICE-PEESIDENTIAL BALLOT. 
The following is the detailed vote for Vice-President: 



States. 


• 
> 

20 
12 
12 

6 
12 

6 

8 
23 
42 
80 
22 
10 
24 
16 
14 
16 
26 
23 
10 
16 
30 

6 

6 
10 
Is 
70 
20 
44 

6 
58 

8 
14 
24 
16 
10 
23 
10 
20 


'A 

D 

n 
a 

CO 

i 

'is' 


w 

<1 


M 

> 


02 


h5 


Q 
K 


Q 






c5 


Q 

K 

< 


8 
<5 


Alabama 


18 
12 






2 




Arkansas 








California 
















Colorado 


6 
















Connecticut 






12 










Delaware 


• • • * 

'is' 
11 

23 


6 

8 
22 








Florida 
















Georgia 
















Illinois 
















Indiana 




1 


5 




3 


4 




Iowa 




Kansas 


10 
24 
10 
















Kentucky 
















Louisiana 


2 








4 






Maine 




14 






Maryland 


'23' 

14 

2 

"*6* 
6 

3 

14 

1 

"2" 

'ii' 

8 


16 

2 

6 

8 

11 

30 








Massachusetts 










i 






Michigan 








Minnesota 












Mississippi 














4 


Missouri 








Nebraska 
















Nevada 


















New Hampshire 


3 
3 

69 

20 

43 

6 

47 






4 

1 










New Jersey 




• • • 




New York 








North Carolina 
















Ohio 
















Oree'on 
















Pfinnavlvania - ... .... 
















Rliodft Island 
















South Carolina 


14 
















Tennessee. 












24 




Texas 


5 
5 

2 

9 

16 


9 

4 

19 

1 

2 














Vermont 
















Virginia 






1 


























1 

8 


1 
30 












1 




Carried forward 


738 


189 


457 


2 


1 


41 


4 




— 



752 



CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 



Territories. 

• 


O 
> 

7-6S 
2 
2 
2 
2 
2 
2 
2 
2 
2 

756 


"A 
P 

< 

189 


D 

w 

Eh 

< 
457 


CO 

t-H 

< 
Q 




d 

w 

^ 

^ 


a 

o 

fa 

Q 

O 

o 


p 

M 

8 


30 


P3 
o 
o 


Brought forward 


2 


1 


41 
2 


1 


4 


Arizona 




Dakota 


.... 

2 
1 

193 


2 
1 








District of Columbia 
















Idaho 
















Montana 


1 

O 

2 
1 
2 

4GS 
















New Mexico 
















Utah 




Washington 


.... 




1 










Wvominfi: 






2 


1 












Totals 


44 


1 


8 


30 


4 







Five delegates did not vote. 

Whole number of votes cast 751 

Necessary to a choice 376 



Washburue 193 

Jewell 44 

Settle 1 

Mayuard 30 

Arthur 408 



Davis 3 

Woodford 1 

Bruce, of Mississippi 8 

Alcorn, of Mississippi 4 



Mr. Frye, in the chair, said that Mr. Arthur, having 
received a majority of all the votes cast, was the candi- 
date for Vice-President, and inquired, " Shall the nomi- 
nation be made unanimous ? " 

Mr. Haymond, of California, moved that it be made 
unanimous. 

Votes of thanks were then passed to the officers oi 
the convention, and the usual committee of one from each 
State was authorized to apprise the candidates of their 
nominations, when the convention adjourned sine die. 

General Arthur was duly informed of his nomination, 
and accepted it in an eloquent letter. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE VICE-PRESIDENCY AND THE PRESIDENCY. 

Elected Vice-President — Inaugurated — Sides with the Stalwarts — Informed 
of the Assassination of tlie President — Summoned to Wasliington — Inter- 
view with Mrs. Garfield — Grief of General Arthur — Incidents of his 
Stay in Washington — Returns to New York — Efforts to Induce him to 
Assume the Presidential Office — His Refusal — Noble and Dignified Con- 
duct of General Arthtir — Informed of the President's Death — Takes the 
Oath of Office as President — Message to the Cabinet — Goes to Elberon — 
Returns to New York — Back to Long Branch — Attends the Funeral Ser- 
vices — Accompanies the Funeral Party to Wasliington — Takes the Oath 
a Second Time — His Inaugural — Takes Part in the President's Funeral 
at Washington — Remains at Washington — Appoints a Day of Fasting 
and Pjayer — Calls an Extra Session of the Senate. 

We have already, in a previous portion of this work, 
rehated the triumphant election of General Arthur to 
the Vice-Presidency of the United States. It is need- 
less to repeat the figures by which this victory was 
achieved. 

On the 4th of March, 1881, at twelve o'clock noon, 
the Senate met in extraordinary session for the pur- 
pose of participating in the inaugural ceremonies of 
President-elect Garfield and Vice-President-elect Ar- 
thur. Immediately thereafter General Arthur entered 
the Chamber escorted by the committee appointed by 
the Senate for that purpose. When the business of 
organizing the new Senate had been concluded he was 



754 CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 

formally introduced to the Senate by the retiring Vice- 
President Wheeler, after which he took the oath of 
office and delivered a brief but eloquent inaugural, and 
assumed his place as the second officer of the Republic. 

During the contest which subsequently ensued be- 
tween Senator Conkling and President Garfield, Gen- 
eral Arthur sided actively with the New York Senator. 
After the resignation of Senators Conkling and Piatt, 
and the adjournment of the United States Senate, 
Vice-President Arthur proceeded to Albany, and took 
an active part in the Stalwart campaign, lending all 
his influence to secure the re-election of Senators Conk- 
ling and Piatt. 

The news of the assassination of President Garfield 
was at once telegraphed by Secretary Blaine to Vice- 
President Arthur. It was felt by the entire Cabinet 
that it was necessary for them to be in communication 
with the Vice-President, in case the wound should 
prove speedily fatal. Four telegrams were sent by 
Secretary Blaine during the day, but no answer was 
returned to either. Postmaster-General James then 
telegraphed to New York as follows : 

" Washington, D. C, July 2d. 
" Secretary of State has telegraphed Vice-President 
Arthur four times to-day. The gravity of the situa- 
tion requires that we should communicate with him at 
once. Can you tell us where a telegram will reach 
him ? " T. L. James, Postmaster-General." 

The following reply at once came to hand at 8 p. m. : 

" To T. L. James : — I have nothing officially regard- 



LIFE AND SERVICES. 755 

ing the President's condition. I have relied upon 
newspaper accounts. I hope to hear more favorable 
tidings. Please answer at once. Please present my 
deepest sympathy to Mrs. Garfield. 

"C.A.Arthur." 

The rejoinder to this was an earnest request to ccine 
to Washington at once, and General Arthur accord- 
ingly left New York on the midnight train in com- 
pany with Senator Jones of Nevada, and reached 
Washington at six o'clock on the morning of July 
3d. The two gentlemen drove to the residence of Sen- 
ator Jones on Capitol Hill, and after remaining there 
a while went to the Arlington hotel. Early in the day 
the Vice-President expressed to Attorney-General Mac- 
Veagh and others an earnest desire to see the Presi- 
dent. He was informed that it was thought best that 
no one except the physicians, members of the family 
and attendants should be allowed in the room, and 
that it was necessary that the President should have 
perfect quiet. Senator Jones called at the White 
House several times during the day. He spoke inva- 
riably of Arthur's deep depression over the situation. 

Vice-President Arthur called at the Executive Man- 
sion shortly after nine o'clock that evening and paid 
his respects and expressed his sympathy with Mrs. 
Garfield and her family. We have already given an 
account of this touching interview in another portion 
of this work, and it is needless to repeat it. All pres- 
ent were impressed with the noble and manly bearing 
and the profound sorrow of the Vice-President. Dur- 
ing the day General Arthur remained in communica- 



756 CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 

tion with the members of the Cabinet, and was guided 
by their suggestions in all his actions. 

On the 4th of July — the saddest national anniver- 
sary the country has ever known — General Arthur re- 
mained at Senator Jones' residence all the morning. 
He did not retire to rest on the previous night until 
the last bulletin was announced from the White House. 
The Vice-President was not reassured by the news in 
the bulletins during the day. He had shared the 
opinion of those in attendance upon the President that 
the latter was improving. He went to bed, however, 
with the consciousness that the doctors were disposed 
to believe that the President could not recover. Gen- 
eral Arthur received early information as to the condi- 
tion of General Garfield- this morning. He was kept 
constantly informed of what was taking place at the 
White House, and was buoyed up with some of the 
views which he received. Senator Jones kept messen- 
gers going to and from the White House, and in addi- 
tion to the information thus received the Vice-Presi- 
dent himself sent every hour for additional news. 
General Arthur went out for a while in the evening, 
but for the rest of the day remained in doors. He saw 
no callers except a few personal friends, and to these 
he did not talk except to inquire what news they had 
of the President's condition. He anxiously read every 
bit of information he could obtain, and seemed to espe- 
cially relish the news when it was reported that Dr. 
Bliss had said early in the day that the President was 
in good condition, with a fair chance of recovery. This 
appeared to nerve General Arthur, but a subsequent 



LIFE AND SERVICES. 757 

report of the gloomy remarks made by Dr. Agnew, of 
Philadelphia, as to General Garfield's condition, were 
not reassuring. In this state of suspense the Viee- 
President passed the day and evening. 

A gentleman who saw him at the time thus writes 
of the Vice-President : 

"As General Arthur sat in Senator Jones' parlor to- 
iiight he looked like a man full of anxiety and sorrow. 
He scarcely spoke a word to his friend the Senator, 
and often did not answer questions that were put to 
him. Aside from the grief which the Vice-President 
feels for the President in his deplorable condition, there 
is the dreadful sense of the great responsibility that 
must be laid upon him if the President should not re- 
cover." 

The correspondent of the New York Herald, writing 

on the 5th of July,, says : 

"Vice-President Arthur has been much indisposed to- 
day. The unfavorable news of last evening, which he 
received hourly by messengers, had the effect of keep- 
ing him from sleeping, and he passed a miserable night. 
This morning he was much fatigued and denied him- 
self to all callers. Senator Jones and General Arthur 
passed the forenoon together, and those who called to 
see the Vice-President were notified by attendants that 
they could not be gratified, as the General was not 
well He looks several years older than when he 
arrived here. Seated in one of the parlors of Senator 
Jones' residence the Vice-President appeared pale and 
haggard this morning. He looked like a man who 
was in great sorrow, and was making every- effort to 



758 CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 

appear calm. He says nothing. Great injustice has 
been done him by the published reports of utterances 
be is alleged to have made to newspaper correspond- 
ents and to Senator Jones. General Arthur has told 
nothing of his feelings to any of the correspondents, 
who have, instead, reported what they imagined he 
should have said. The man is bowed down by thought, 
and his feelings are not of the nature to be expressed 
to every idler who calls upon him. He is keenly sen- 
sitive of the position in which he has been placed by 
the assassination of the President, and has been very 
careful to keep his sorrow to himself and to see and 
address no one but his intimate personal friends. He 
has been utterly misrepresented by the wholly unau- 
thorized reports sent broadcast over the country, and he 
is too sensitive to personally conti^adict them. He 
came here at the solicitation of the members of the 
Cabinet, and proposes for the present to act under the 
directions of its members while he is in Washington. 
Should the President recover he will have shown liis 
sympathy for his trouble, while, should the President 
die, he will be on hand to take the oath of office as 
President, and thus prevent an interregnum. Whether 
it may be necessary for him to do anything not advised 
by the Cabinet cannot, of course, be now determined. 
There can be no doubt of the cordial agreement that at 
present exists between the Vice-President and the 
Secretaries, and Mr. Blaine is pronounced in his ad- 
miration of General Arthur's course thus far. Even 
those who dislike the Vice-President personally or 
politically agree in saying that his demeanor since the 
attempted assassination has been most proper. 



LIFE AND SERVICES. 759 

*' During the afternoon the Vice-President visited the 
White House. He was accompanied by Senator Jones. 
General Arthur did not see the President. He mio-ht 
have done so, only the wounded Chief Magistrate Avas 
asleep and it was not deemed advisable to disturb him. 
The Vice-President remained in the Cabinet-room for 
about three-quarters of an hour. Secretary Blaine 
talked with him for a time, and the party was increased 
later by the presence of Secretaries James and Hunt. 
Mr. Blaine and the other Cabinet officers informed the 
Vice-President of the favorable condition of the Presi- 
dent, and General Arthur said that he was more than 
pleased at the turn affairs had taken. The gentlemen 
remained in the Cabinet-room all the time during his 
stay in the White House, and when Senator Jones left 
with his guest he cordially invited Mr. Blaine and his 
colleagues in the Cabinet to visit General Arthur. 

" This invitation was accepted by Mr. Blaine, and 
early in the evening he and Secretaries Hunt, Windom 
and Lincoln went to Senator Jones' residence, on Cap- 
itol Hill. They were ushered into the parlor on the 
second floor and there met the Vice-President. Sec- 
retary Blaine again informed General Arthur of the 
promising condition of the President, and said that 
since the visit of the Vice-President General Garfield 
had shown further signs of improvement. General 
Arthur said he hoped and prayed that the symptoms 
would continue as favorable, and declared that he was 
overjoyed to think that there was reason to supp®se 
that the President would live. He had steadily hoped 
that there would be no necessity for him to assume the 



760 CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 

Presidency, and now he thought his hopes would be 
realized in the recovery of the President. 

" The members of the Cabinet were very courteous to 
the Vice-President and the best of feeling prevailed. 
The call of the Secretaries was merely a social one 
and will be repeated to-morrow. General Arthur again 
passed the night at Senator Jones' house. lie received 
hourly bulletins from the White House, all of which 
were of a reassuring character." 

General Arthur remained in Washington several 
days, and then, as the President continued to improve, 
returned to New York. 

Tlie long illness of President Garfield proved a sore 
trial to General Arthur. His position was a very deli- 
cate one, and he was constantly beset by reporters and 
correspondents who sought to draw from him his views 
on the condition of affairs. To these he returned a 
courteous, but firm refusal to converse upon the subject, 
and all through the sad period bore himself with a 
manly firmness which won for him the admiration of 
the entire nation. 

It was urged by an influential party toward the 
latter part of the President's sickness, that the inability 
of the executive to discharge the duties of his office 
was such as was contemplated by the framers of the 
National Constitution, and that it was the plain duty 
of the Vice-President to assume the office of Chief 
Magistrate, and proceed to administer the government. 
To all these suggestions the Vice-President turned a 
deaf ear. He was willing to take such a step if 
summoned thereto by the Cabinet, but would, for 



LIFE AND SERVICES. '761 

himself, await the course of events, in the meantime 
joining earnestly in the prayers of the nation for the 
President's recovery. He made no secret of his utter 
reluctance to go to Washington while the President 
lived. The manly delicacy thus exhibited by the Vice- 
President won him many friends, even among those 
who had previously been his political enemies. In this 
frame of mind he calmly and sadly awaited the course 
of events, remaining almost the whole time at his 
residence in New York, and denying himself to all 
visitors save a few of his most intimate friends. 

Immediately after the death of the President the 
members of the Cabinet, present at Elberon, united in 
the following telegram to the Vice-President : 

"Hon. Chester A. Arthur, 

" No. 123 Lexington avenue, New York : 
" It becomes our painful duty to inform you of the 
death of President Garfield, and to advise you to take 
the oath of office without delay. If it concurs with 
your judgment we will be very glad if you will come 
down on "the earliest train to-morrow morning. 

" William Windom, 
" Secretary of the Treasury. 
" William H. Hunt, 
" Secretary of the Navy. 

" Thomas L. James, 
" Postmaster-General. 

" Wayne MacVeagh, 
"Attorney-General. 

" L. J. KiRKWOOD, 

" Secretary of the Interior." 



762 CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 

The Vice-President immediately replied as follows : 

" New York, September 19. 

" Hon. Wayne MacVeagh, 

"Attorney -General, Long Branch : 
" I have your telegram, and the intelligence fills me 
with profound sorrow. Express to Mrs. Garfield my 
deepest sympathies. 

" Chester A. Arthur." 

In accordance with the advice of the Cabinet, General 
Arthur decided to take the oath without delay, and 
Judges Brady and Donohoe, of the Supreme Court of 
the State of New York, were at once sent for. Judge 
Brady arrived at the residence of the Vice-President, in 
company with Messrs. Rollins and Root, at ten minutes 
before two, but the ceremony was out of courtesy 
deferred until Judge Donohoe's arrival at a little after 
2 o'clock, with ex-Commissioner French. On Judge 
Donohoe's arrival General Arthur rose from his seat in 
the library and advanced to the front parlor. It is a 
large room. The carpet is soft and deep and of a dark 
tint. Heavy curtains to match the carpeting hang 
from the large French windows. Oil paintings by old 
masters hang from the ceiling. Despatches, books and 
writing materials were scattered all over the large 
table that stands in the centre. General Arthur stood 
behind this table, facing the window. He had gained 
his composure ; and his eye was clear, and his manner 
dignified. The gas in the library was burning dimly, 
and his fine, tall form stood out grandly from the dark 
background. Old allegorical pictures loomed out from 



LIFE AND SERVICES. 763 

the darkness — pictures of conquests and of triumphs, 
of defeat and despair- — and above all wo.s the white 
marble bust of Henry Clay. Judge Brady stood on 
the other side of the table, facing General Arthur. 
Grouped around the two men were Judge Donohoe, 
Elihu Root, Commissioner French, Daniel G. Rollins 
and General Arthur's son. Judge Brady slowly 
advanced a step and slowly raised his right hand. 
General Arthur did likewise. A moment of impressive 
silence followed. General Arthur's features were al- 
most fixed. Then Judge Brady administered the oath. 
General Arthur, speaking in a clear, ringing voice, said : 

"I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute 
the office of President of the United States, and will 
to the best of my ability preserve, protect and defend 
the Constitution of the United States." 

After this he remained standing a moment longer, 
his hand still raised. No one spoke, nor did the Presi- 
dent afterwards give expression to any emotion. 

Soon after this President Arthur sent the following 
telegram to the members of the Cabinet : 

" Nkw York, September 20. 

" I have your message announcing the death of 
President Garfield. Permit me to renew through you 
the expression of sorrow and sympathy which I 
have already telegraphed to Attorney-General Mac- 
Veagh. In accordance with your suggestion I have 
taken the oath of office as President before the Hon. 
John R. Brady, Justice of the Supreme Court of the 
State of New York. I will soon advise you further in 
regard to the other suggestion in your telegram. 

"C. A. Arthur." 



764 CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 

Early on the morning of the 20th President Arthur 
left New York for Long Branch. He reached that 
place at 1.15 p. m., and drove at once to Attorney-Gen- 
eral MacVeagh's cottage. After an informal conference 
with the members of the Cabinet, the President walked 
over to Elberon Cottage and left a card of sympathy 
for Mrs. Garfield. He then returned to New York. 
On the 21st he again returned to Long Brand], 
took part in the funeral ceremonies at Elberon, 
and accompanied the funeral train to Washington, 
where he became the guest of Senator Jones. During 
the remainder of the day and evening he remained in 
strict seclusion. 

Earlj' on the morning of the 22d the members of 
the Cabinet repaired to the residence of Senator Jones, 
to call on the President. During the forenoon a num- 
ber of the members of the two Houses of Congress called 
to pay their respects. This was ended at half-past 
eleven, and a little later the President and Cabinet 
went over to the east front of the Senate wing of the 
Capitol, which they entered, then went directly to the 
room of the Vice-President, the magnificent marblecbam- 
ber north of the Senate Chamber. When they went in 
nobody outside of their circle who saw them seemed 
to know what was on foot. It was not until the Chief- 
Justice of the United States, clad in his dark robes of 
office, was seen approaching from the main corridor 
that it was guessed that the President was about to go 
through the formality of taking the oath of office as 
President at the hands of the Chief-Justice of the 
Supreme Court. This was considered but a formality, 



LIFE AND SERVICES. 765 

as Mr. Arthur had been sworn in New York early on 
Tuesday morning. It was thought by the Cabinet, 
however, that it would be as well to follow a custom 
which had been established by having the oath admin- 
istered by the highest judicial officer in the country. 
The scene when the oath was taken was impressive in 
the extreme. At the right of the President stood 
Senator Jones and Speaker Sharpe, of New York. Ex- 
President Hayes was a conspicuous figure well in the 
foreground, with General Grant but a few steps behind. 
All of the Cabinet were present. Of the Senators there 
were present Hale, Jones, Sherman, Dawes and An- 
thony, and Representatives Hiscock, McCook, Town- 
send and others. During the ceremony ex-President 
Hayes sat near ex-President Grant. The administra- 
tion of the oath was followed by the President's brief 
inaugural, which he read from manuscript. 

Secretary Blaine was the first one to grasp the Pres- 
ident's hand when he had finished reading his address. , 
The Secretary was followed by members of the Cabinet 
and by others present. There were about forty wit- 
nesses in the room. An important Cabinet meeting 
followed the ceremonies. This meeting lasted nearly 
an hour. The first official act of the new President 
was then performed. It was the issuance of a procla- 
mation designating Monday, September 26th, as a day 
of humiliation and prayer on account of the death of 
the late President. The members of the Cabinet then 
one after another tendered their resignations. This 
formality was expected. The President made no inti- 
mation as to whether they would or would not be 



766 CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 

accepted. He simply asked them to continue to ad- 
minister the business of their respective departments. 

On the 23d of September, President Arthur attended 
the funeral ceremonies of his martyred predecessor, and 
accompanied the remains to the railway station. It 
was his wish to go with the funeral party to Cleveland, 
but in view of the facts that a railway journey of such 
length is always dangerous, and that an attempt might 
be made upon his life by some fanatic, and that in the 
event of his death the country would be without an 
official head, there being no Vice-President, President 
of the Senate, or Speaker of the House, the Cabinet 
advised him to remain iu Washington, and he con- 
sented to do so. 

On the 23d of September, President Arthur issued 
his proclamation summoning the Senate of the United 
States to convene in extraordinary session on the 10th 
of October, 1881. 

APPENDIX. 

Not only did the dastardly attempt of the assassin 
Guiteau plunge the nation into the gloom of sorrow, 
but it entailed upon it an extraordinary burden of 
pecuniary expense. 

President Garfield was shot on the second day of 
July, died op the 19th of September, and was buried, 
or placed in a tomb, on the 26th of September, in all 
eighty-five days. Congress will be called upon to 
defray the expenses of the sickness and of the funeral. 
It is also understood that Congress will be called 
upon to vote a sum of money to Mrs. Garfield. It 
will be remembered that when the illustrious Lincoln 



APPENDIX. 767 

was assassinated Congress managed to vote his widow 
a pension of $3,000 a year. It is quite probable that 
Congress will vote Mrs. Garfield the full salarv of the 
President for the year, which will give her, say ^,\!5,000. 
An effort will be made to give her a pension of $5,000. 
Should that be done, a demand will be made to increase 
Mrs. Lincoln's pension to that amount. Mrs. Garfield 
is now well provided for; an income of at least $12,000 
a year is already secured. If she obtains a pension of 
$3,000, her regular income during her life cannot fall 
short of $15,000 a year. In addition to this, the 
widow will doubtless have about $100,000, and in a 
pecuniary point of view, she will be vastly better off 
than the widow of the lamented Lincoln. 

Mr. Private Secretary Brown, who has attended to 
all the purchases of the President's sick-room and 
receipted for all goods received, estimates the cost of 
the President's sickness at $100,000, which would be 
at the rate of $1,250 a day. Of this cost the doctors' 
bills will form the largest item, say $53,000. Of this 
amount Dr. Bliss will want $25,000, Drs. Agnew and 
Hamilton $12,000 each. Dr. Reyburn $3,000, and Mrs. 
Dr. Edson $1,000. Drs. Woodward and Barnes will 
get nothing, unless Congress chooses to recognize their 
services as being not strictly in the line of their duty 
as army officers. It is thought that the total cost of 
drugs will not exceed $500. 

Such things as beef extract, koumiss, whisky, 
brandy, and wine were all donated, and there is said 
to be a vast accumulation of drugs, patent medicines, 
liquors, etc., at the White House, forwarded from all 
parts of the country, which will doubtless be given to 
the poor of Washington. The Pennsylvania Railroad 
moved the President to Long Branch, brought the 
remains back to Washington, and took them to Cleve- 
land, for which, it is understood, no charge will be 
made. 



768 APPENDIX. 

The expenses at Elberon are set down at $1,000. 
The funeral ceremonies at the capital are estimated 
at $1,000, including the decoration of buildings. The 
cost of the trip to Cleveland for Senators and Repre- 
sentatives, hire of carriages, etc., is estimated at $5,000, 
cost of telegraphic messages, $2,000 ; undertakers' bills 
are estimated at $5,000, and it now looks as though 
$100,000 would meet every demand, but there is a 
possibility that much more will be required. The 
State of Ohio pays all expenses of transportation of 
body, escort, etc, after passing State line, estimated as 
follows : 

Pay of troops for four days $5,000 

Transportation 3,000 

Subsistence 4 000 

Artillery service 1,000 

Transportation of body 1,000 

Miscellaneous " 10,000 

Total $24,000 

At Cleveland the expenses are estimated as follows : 

Catafalque , $3,000 

Arches „... 5,000 

Transportation Escort Committee 150 

Funeral car ^ 1,500 

Decorations ] 

Horses I 1,000 

Hearse ) 

Carriages „. 2,500 

Music 2,000 

Extra police 2,500 

Accommodations 100,000 

Floral decorations on catafalque and arches, contributed by 

private parties 2,000 

Same contributed by other cities 1,000 

Decorations of other public buildings 3,000 

Decorations on private buildings 100,000 

Total $223,650 

These figures show a grand total of expenditures for 
sickness and funeral of $347,650, of which the United 
States will pay, say, $100,000, leaving $247,650 for 
f-Ohio, Cleveland, and private individuals. 



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